


Allons-y!

by AWill99



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Eventual Romance, F/M, Original Character(s), POV Original Character, Will follow the series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-07-28 21:58:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 44,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16250597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AWill99/pseuds/AWill99
Summary: Krystal is your average person...well, average if you forgo the fact that she's an alien from the very distant future with some interesting non-average abilities. Anyway, for twenty years she's been stuck on Earth, though, and for the majority of that time, she's been searching for the Doctor and his time traveling blue box in the hopes that he can help her get back home and save all her people.Well, her long search is finally over. She's found him.He can help her, right, because Krystal is tired of being the last of her kind on a planet where she has to hide her abilities.But what if he can't help? What happens next?Nah. It'll be fine. The Doctor will help her. He'll fix her problems. It'll be like nothing ever happened to begin with. Why? Because that's what he does. He saves entire planets and their people with nothing but his clever mind, a sonic screwdriver, and his amazing blue box.He's the Doctor. What could go wrong?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Well, hello there. 
> 
> Welcome to Allons-y! (2.0). The new and (hopefully) improved version. 
> 
> Just a quick note to the title. This story originally had been uploaded onto fanfiction.net and wattpad. Because I am posting this new, re-written version on both sites still, I made the re-written 2.0. On this site in particular it will just be Allons-y! but it technically is Allons-y! 2.0.
> 
> Why is this a re-written story? Because I haven't updated the other story in years and a few months back I watched an episode of Doctor Who that really made me want to sit back down and finish this gosh darn series that I had all planned out in my head. I refused to continue with the original though. After re-reading it, and cringing at the majority of what I had written, I knew the story needed to be re-written. Now I'm no spectacular writer or anything compared to others but I know for a fact that my writing has gotten much better compared to when I first published the original a few years back. So, I needed to start fresh. It was the only way I knew I would be able to even try and get this Doctor Who ball rolling again. 
> 
> Now I wasn't planning on putting this story up quite yet until I had a lot more re-written (I'm at about five chapters in so far), but the premiere of the latest Doctor Who episode made me want to. Granted this was supposed to be put up Sunday after I watched the newest episode but I ended up getting distracted with doing other things and by the time I had time, I was dead tired. So, the goal is going to be to update this story every Sunday since that is when Doctor Who is now airing. So basically I need to re-write things fast before I run out of already written chapters. 
> 
> So, just want to give a heads up about this new story before anyone reads it. There are obviously going to be little changes. Heck, the first chapter is completely new compared to the original book and I added a completely new character. But one thing I definitely want to address is Krystal's personality, or better yet state-of-mind. I will warn now that, though sometimes poorly written, my character, in the beginning, is very negative when it comes to herself. She calls herself stupid a bunch of times, thinks she's worthless, believes that she isn't good enough for anyone to even think about liking, sometimes will tell herself that she is better off dead, etc. I just wish to point this out now before anyone reads further. She was not like this in the original story, but after doing a lot of tweaking with her personality I wanted to make her like this. A character who truly believes all of this about herself and gets forced to be around somebody else who thinks she's completely wrong and wishes to show her that. 
> 
> On the bright side, though, this is still (or eventually will be) a Doctor/OC story. Someday. Not yet though. So learn to be patient, please. I promise it'll happen but I don't want to rush it like I felt like I needed to try and do in the last story. It ruins the whole thing. And yes, Rose is still in this and she and the Doctor still have that connection like they do in the actual series. And yes, Krystal and Rose will still have their moments and they will need to learn to overcome them in order to make the experience fun for everybody around them. 
> 
> Now, I believe that's the main stuff then that I wanted to address at the moment. I am going to put another author's note at the bottom but that one will be a lot shorter and talk more about the chapter. 
> 
> So, enjoy!

"Do you mind if I join you?"

I opened an eye and peered up at the man standing before me. He wore this goofy little smile on his face that didn't quite reach his eyes. I raised an eyebrow and silently eyed his attire as he continued to stare at me.

Honestly, he reminded me of the stereotypical look for a college professor. Black shoes, black pants, a button-up shirt, blue suspenders with a matching bowtie, and then a tweed jacket. Ordinary people don't just go around looking like that for no reason. He couldn't be a professor though. He looked way too young. He had a babyface and a mop of floppy brown hair on top of his head. He had to at least be in his early to mid-twenties.

I mentally smacked myself. Here I was looking the way I did, and I thought it okay to judge someone off their appearance? Maybe he was just young with an old soul...or perhaps he actually was older than he looked and really was a professor. Who knows and who cares. It's not my business.

The man above me gave a soft chuckle, immediately pulling me from my thoughts. I quickly glanced away in embarrassment, my cheeks heating up a smidge, as I shrugged at him. Babyface or not, he was cute, unfortunately. Dumb hormones. "Yeah, sure. Go on ahead. It's not like I own the bench or anything. Make yourself comfy."

"Thank you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the man pause a second. He then took in a deep breath before taking a seat on the bench. I flinched when his jacket accidentally rubbed against my shoulder, and I scooted over as far away from him without him noticing my movement.

I noticed the man awkwardly shift a little as he rubbed his hands together. I silently watched as he leaned back and then instantly sat up straight, only to then hunch over. His hands rubbed together once more before finally settling on his legs where he gripped his pants tightly.

Why was he so nervous? He's the one who wanted to sit beside me. My eyes then widened a tad, and I looked away with an embarrassed flush. He wasn't going to ask me on a date or something, was he? Oh, Goddess. What if he did?!?

I looked back at him out of the corner of my eye just in time to see him give a sigh and lean backward once more against the wood of the bench. His hands slowly relaxed their grip on his pants, and he casually brought one up, so it rested behind the back of the bench. I instantly stiffened.

"Something wrong?" he asked me. I quickly shook my head. "Are you sure? You don't look too well."

"I'm fine. Just...peachy," I lied through my teeth.

His leg closest to me crossed over his other and the one still on the ground started to bounce a bit. "I'm not sure I quite believe you."

I scowled at him. "Believe me or not. I don't care. Hell, I don't even know you! Besides, you've no room to talk." I added, referring to his nervous habits he was showing a few moments earlier.

The man looked off ahead, his small smile from earlier returning. "I guess not, huh?" He then shook his head and stuck out his right hand for me. "John Smith."

I quickly brought up a hand to cover my mouth as I snorted. John's grin grew as he watched me. After a moment, I lowered my hand from my face. "You're not serious, are you? That can't truly be your name." John said nothing. He just continued to smile at me. I couldn't help but smile back at him. "You poor thing. Your parents must've hated you."

"What's yours then?" he asked back, his hand still held between us.

My smile slowly started to disappear. "I'm not sure if I should...I don't even know you!"

"Well, how else are we suppose to get to know each other if you won't even tell me your name?"

I blinked at him. Was he flirting with me? Is that why he wanted to know my name? What should I tell him? Should I say my name or make something up?

'If you want my opinion, I say just go for it, Miss. He seems harmless enough.'

'Are you sure, Krystan?' I thought back to him.

'It is just a name. What harm could come of it?'

I sighed. "Fine. Whatever. You win."

Krystan's chuckle echoed through my head.

Krystan was my A.I. He was located inside of my Extraterrestrial Locator, aka E.T.L., which was a "watch" on my wrist that could locate aliens for me. The watch was connected telepathically to me which gave me the ability to be able to communicate with Krystan whenever he was inside of the watch and not in his hologram form. So, nothing is ever really private. Unless Krystan by chance isn't paying attention to my thoughts or I really focus on blocking my thoughts from him. Which can be a lot harder than it sounds.

"My name is Krystal," I told John, refusing to touch his hand.

John kept his hand up for another moment before slowly dropping it when he realized that I wasn't going to accept it. "Beautiful name for a beautiful lady."

My cheeks grew even redder, and I felt my eyes burn as they shifted colors. Oh, thank Goddess I had in my contacts.

Krystan snickered, quite loudly, in my head. 'Miss, it appears he is flirting with you.'

"Uh huh," I subconsciously nodded.

John's head tilted a smidge, a chuckle coming forth from his lips. "Are you all right? I didn't mean to embarrass you like that. You just remind me of someone, is all."

"I'm good," I squeaked. My eyes widened, and I immediately clamped my mouth shut. I brought up a hand and covered my mouth before I sounded any more like an idiot.

John's hazel eyes drifted down to my neck. Suddenly his smile grew the widest I had seen so far. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears as if the gem in your choker has changed colors."

"Has it?" I asked, the question coming out muffled because of my hand. I quickly ripped my hand away and asked again.

He nodded. "Yes. To a very vibrant shade of orange. Almost like a mood ring. May I ask what color orange represents?"

"Uh...?"

How the bloody hell do I get out of this?!? I'm not just going to come on out and say it's orange because I'm embarrassed! Not only is that embarrassing, and will prob make the orange shine even brighter, but he might tease me about why I'm acting this way. Stay strong, Krystal! It's just a man. A very nice looking man.

"Uh...it means nothing," I finally forced out. "Absolutely nothing. It doesn't change based on emotions, it just changes, you know? Yeah..."

I could immediately see that he didn't believe me, but luckily he didn't press me on it. Instead, he grew strangely quiet for a few seconds before saying, "I can...I can leave if you want me to. I see I'm making you uncomfortable."

I sighed, shaking my head. "No. Please stay. Don't go." John, who had stood up when I had been shaking my head, slowly sat back down and stared at me. I bit my lip and glanced away. "It's not your fault. I'm just not much of a social person."

I could feel his eyes still gazing at me, but I refused to make contact with him.

Ugh. This is so awkward. Why didn't I just go back to the ship? He's almost too close to me for my own comfort, but I told him he could stay. Maybe I should just leave instead.

Before I could decide to leave or not, John spoke. "So, Krystal, is there a reason for you being out here alone tonight? It is almost Christmas after all."

"Just, uh, looking for someone. Thought I'd take a break before heading home."

"Looking for someone, huh?" He seemed to smile at that which I raised an eyebrow slightly at. "Is he special?"

"You could say," I murmured. I shook my head. "Uh, what about you? Any reason you're out here? No family to be with on Christmas?"

John's smile remained on his face as he made eye contact with me. I held it for a few seconds before flushing and averting my eyesight to his bowtie. "Certain circumstances have made it impossible for us to be together, unfortunately."

I fully turned to face him, leaning my back against the armrest. "I'm sorry to hear that." I frowned and pushed a strand of blonde hair behind my ear. "I understand what it's like being separated from family. Hell, my entire family is actually..." I trailed off and pursed my lips before shaking my head. "Never mind. Forget I said anything." I broke the eye contact with his bow tie and looked up at the night sky.

Using my peripherals I saw John frown, his eyebrows scrunched together. He looked conflicted for a few moments. Finally, he sighed and rubbed at his face.

"I'm sorry to hear that as well," he quietly said. He sighed again and adjusted his bowtie before giving me that grin from earlier. "So, who are you looking for? Maybe I've heard of him and can help."

I shook my head. "Doubtful. The chance of you knowing him is very slim." I chuckled and looked back over at John. "Besides, I've been searching for, well, let's just say a long time now. I don't think some random man I just met is going to be my golden ticket to finding him."

"Well, what's his name? I know a lot of people."

"Still very doubtful."

John adjusted his bowtie again. "Oh come on. Give me a shot."

"Not this one," I said back. "But thanks."

Slowly, John moved slightly closer. I stiffened up and pressed my body as close to the armrest as I could. Noticing my discomfort, he stopped and held up his hands with the palms facing me. I silently eyed his hands before making eye contact with his hazel ones. I swallowed as he chuckled at me.

"Try me," he said, his voice dropping in pitch a bit.

My eyes, which had changed back to normal a bit ago, burned as they switched back to orange. I quickly looked away as my entire face flushed.

What was my issue with this man? Why was he able to make me flush so much? And so hard? I didn't have a crush, did I? I mean, he was super cute, but I just met him not even five minutes ago.

I licked my lips. "Fine, fine. Okay. You win. He calls himself the Doctor." Just back off already!

John sat up straight, his hands falling down to his lap, as he burst into laughter. "Doctor who?" I glared daggers at him and sat up straight myself. After a few long moments of his laughing, he finally calmed down enough to make eye contact with me again...only to start laughing at me once more. My glare hardened as his hands wrapped around his stomach and he bent over at the waist.

"Knew I shouldn't have told you," I muttered as his laughing finally, FINALLY, turned to giggles before subsiding again. "You good?" I asked sarcastically. "Feel better now? All out of your system?"

He gave me the biggest grin so far tonight. "Sorry. Inside joke." He immediately had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing again.

I sighed. "What is wrong with you?"

John eventually was able to stop and try to compose himself. The grin was still on his face as he went and adjusted his bowtie again. "I'm not sure what you mean."

My eyes narrowed at him. "Are you even taking this seriously at all? YOU'RE the one who asked for the name since you apparently 'know tons of people'!" I used air quotes before crossing my arms over my chest and looking off to the side.

I could see him blink owlishly over at me as realization seemed to kick in. "Of course I'm being serious, Krystal!" he exclaimed. I looked back over at him fully and cocked an eyebrow. John blinked again before taking a deep breath. He then slowly let it out as he sat up straight again and gave me a calming smile. "See? All better now. It's out of my system."

I rolled my eyes and went back to staring off to the side. "Whatever."

"So...can you tell me what this Doctor fellow looks like?"

I shook my head slowly. "Not really. He could honestly look like anything right now."

Plus, how do you tell a random Human that the Doctor could either be a big-eared man wearing a black leather jacket or something entirely different? You don't, that's how. Besides, he apparently has no idea who the Doctor is else he instead would've recognized him by name...instead of laughing insanely at me.

I sighed. So I'm still screwed.

"I can't help much if you don't describe his appearance to me."

"No. I shouldn't have told you. It's pretty obvious that you have no idea who I'm referring to."

"Hmm." John placed a hand to his chin. He started to tap a finger against his cheek. "Well, what about any distinguishing features about him? What makes him tick? What makes him different from the rest of the world? What's something that only the Doctor would have that makes him stand out?"

I sighed again. Fine. I guess I could try and tell John something special about the Doctor. I licked my lips. "He...he..." I frowned. What was something that was unique to the Doctor that I could tell to a Human and they understand? Come on, Krystal! What makes him stand out? Well, a few things do actually, like having two hearts and the ability to regenerate into an entirely different person, but if I say that I'll just go and scare John off.

Hmm.

My eyes locked on to John's blue bowtie again as I went deep in thought.

In my head, Krystan coughed loudly. I ignored him as I stared at John's tie still. Krystan then coughed again, even louder than the first time.

I sighed. 'What?'

'What color is his tie, Miss?'

'Blue. So?'

'What was that one important thing we were told to look out for that the Doctor will have? His ultimate mode of transportation.'

I blinked. Oh.

TARDIS.

Man, was I stupid.

'Miss, I can assure you that you are indeed not stupid.'

I frowned and glared down at my E.T.L. 'It's true. Besides, you HAVE to say that, Krystan.'

I returned my attention back to John's face. I blinked at the amused expression on his face. Did I do something funny while talking with Krystan? Ugh. Yeah. I probably did. I must look like some sort of idiot to him. I'm surprised he hasn't run off by just my expressions alone.

I awkwardly scratched at my arm. "Have you seen a blue police box from the 1960s anywhere by chance?" I quickly looked away, ready for him to laugh again.

Except he didn't laugh. My eyebrows scrunched together as I waited, and waited, and waited. But he didn't laugh. Ever so slowly I turned my head back to him.

John's grin grew and grew when he saw me look back at him, catching me even more off guard. "What if I were to say yes?"

I just stared at him. "Are you being serious right now?"

John didn't say anything as he just nodded back in response.

I took in a deep breath, pulling my hands slightly closer to my body, before releasing the breath and pulling my hands away. "If, IF, by chance, you have seen or even know where I can find this police box, and it by chance is the correct one I am seeking, then I...I would...I..." I took in another quick breath to calm my racing nerves. "I would forever be in your debt, sir."

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "My debt?"

I swallowed. "You've no idea how long I have been trying to find this man."

"Why exactly are you looking for this Doctor person?" he then asked. "Why's he so special to you? Most people would've given up by now if it was taking them this long."

I looked directly into his eyes. "I have something very important that needs to be done, and he is the only person who can help me with my problem," I said as truthfully as I could without getting into my whole story.

"So you've never met this man yet you are depending on him?"

"Yeah...sounds accurate enough."

And crazy. Goddess, I sound like such a psychopath! Why is this man even still around me? If we were in reverse positions, I probably would have scrammed by now.

He laughed, and I immediately tensed up at the sound. Here it goes. He's going to call me crazy and leave. "All right. Sounds like a good enough reason for me."

I blinked at him. "You agree with me?"

"Well, of course. I'm not going to not agree with you. It's your choice what you wish to do. I'll just help get the ball rolling by setting you in the correct direction." John leaned in and placed a hand on my cheek causing a strange spark to emit from his hand. I tensed right back up and stared at him with wide eyes. "Besides, this Doctor could turn out to be someone extraordinary and help you out in more ways than one."

I swallowed at the lump forming in my throat. All my instincts were screaming at me to run far, far away. Screw the fact he can help me find the TARDIS and thus the Doctor. This man is touching me! Being comfortable with me!

I was busy waiting for him to leave that he did the one thing I despised. The one thing that was making ME want to run far away.

It was when his thumb lightly caressed my cheek, causing another strange spark of some sort, that I yelped and scrambled off the bench, falling to the ground. I heard him swear behind me, but I didn't care as I tried to crawl as far away from him as I could.

What the hell!!! He wasn't trying to help me! He was just trying to get close to me by pretending he could help me. Why was I such an idiot to think someone could just genuinely wish to help someone like me! Stupid, stupid, stupid, Krystal! I'm such an idiot! A bloody idiot!

"Krystal, wait! I didn't mean to do that!" he cried out.

I started to move faster at his words but paused when I heard a thump. Knowing I'd regret my action, I peered over my shoulder to look back at him. I stared in confusion at the sight of him sprawled out on the ground groaning.

Here was my chance to really flee...so why was I still staring at him?

My heart started going at a hundred miles a minute when he looked up at me through his hair that had fallen over his eyes. Seriously, Krystal? Why was I still here? Why didn't I leave already?

Yet I asked instead, "You okay?"

"Yeah." John pulled himself to his knees and rubbed at his forehead. "I'm fine. Just tripped."

I nodded and turned away again. "Good." I buried my head in my hands. "Please go away now."

"But I thought you wanted me to take you to where I saw the police box?"

"I did until you went and got personal with me!" I snapped at him, raising my head to glare at him. "Who just goes and does that?!?" He went to open his mouth, but I put my head back in my hands when I felt tears start to fall down my face. "Please just go..."

I heard him sigh and rise to his feet. I tensed when his footsteps then sounded, but instead of moving farther away from me, they moved in my direction. Soon I could feel his presence beside me, his breathing lightly hitting my face. I slowly peered up and found myself eye-to-eye with him. I swallowed, my cheeks automatically flushing once more.

Damn it, Krystal! What the hell?!?

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to frighten you like that," John murmured. "You just...you remind me of someone."

"Who?"

He bit his lip and glanced away for a split second before looking back once more at me. "My wife."

I blinked. Once, twice, thrice. "What?"

"You remind me of my wife," he swallowed. "...You look just like her. Identical, almost."

Of course, he was married. Guess he wasn't flirting after all. Or well...he was flirting, but more only because I look like his wife. If I didn't look like her, he probably never would have even spoken to me. I frowned. Honestly, I should've seen this coming. Who would actually want to flirt with me to begin with?

'Miss,' Krystan sighed.

'No. Stop it. Don't say anything.'

I could just picture Krystan standing there with crossed arms and a frown on his face. 'You just tried to run away because this man got very personal with you. Now you are upset because he got personal with you only because you remind him of his wife?'

'It's complicated, Krystan! You wouldn't understand.'

'Yes, Miss. I am nothing but an automated interface that can get inside your head, hear your thoughts, and sense your emotions...but I would never understand.'

'Krystan, stop it!' More tears fell down my face. 'Please...just stop it. You aren't helping at all!'

"I really know where the TA-um, I mean, police box is. If you want...I can still take you to it," John said, pulling me out of my head. I scrambled backward when I suddenly noticed he had moved even closer and was now standing in front of me. He was staring down at me with a frown and a sad expression.

I sighed, rubbing at my eyes to wipe any tears that were on my own face. I looked up and silently studied John afterward. He looked so hurt, almost like he was about to shed a tear or two himself but was doing his best to hold it together.

'Why does he look ready to cry?' I asked to Krystan.

'Possibly because of the resemblance to his wife you have. He must not know how to handle the rejection you are giving him.'

'So what do I do? I don't want to make him cry...even if he did touch me and make me cry...'

'Make him happy?' Krystan guessed. 'Besides, you know he did not mean it. It must have been an instinct of his. If you saw someone who looked just like your family...would you not wish to make physical contact too?'

I rubbed at my face again. He was right. Even though I do not wish to make any sort of physical contact with others, if I saw someone who looked like one of my brothers, for instance, I may forget my phobia in order to hug them. But honestly, I just think I would cry.

'Good. Now give in to his wish of helping us and follow him. Perhaps he will actually be able to lead you to the TARDIS like he has been telling you he can,' Krystan said. 'Then you both will be happy.'

'Fine. If this ends poorly though, I blame you. Just remember you're supposed to act as a bit of a conscious and be helping me stay out of trouble. Not encourage me to get into it.'

'I highly doubt he could do anything too terrible to an advanced alien species from the future. Besides, you were the one who asked how you could help him.'

'Wanna bet?'

'Worse he might do is try and kill you...but we both know how that will turn out, do we not, Miss?'

I sighed again, this time shaking my head at Krystan before turning my attention back on to John who surprisingly didn't seem too confused over the fact that I just had a conversation in my mind for a good few minutes. I cocked a brow at him. I'm not sure if I should be impressed over how patient he just was or how stupid he was on waiting for a complete stranger to stop spacing out.

I awkwardly stood to my feet, ignoring John's hazel eyes on me. "I will accept your apology of what occurred earlier if you really mean it when you know where the police box is." John eagerly nodded as a reply. "And," I added on harshly, "there will be no more body contact of any sort! Especially what you did earlier. I'm sorry you aren't with your wife for Christmas, but even if I resemble her, I am in no way her, got it? My name is Krystal, okay? Krystal. So please promise you won't do that again or I will turn around and not look back."

John grinned. He lifted up both hands and held each one over his chest where he then made little crosses over his chest. "Cross my hearts. You won't regret this! I promise!"

I gave him a confused look. "You have two hearts? I thought Humans only had one."

He blinked before awkwardly laughing and scratching the back of his head. "Heart. I meant heart. As in one. Uno. Singular." I tilted my head a little at him. John gave a sheepish grin before gesturing out ahead of him with the hand that had been scratching his head. "Shall we get going then, Krysty? No time like the present."

I scrunched up my nose in disdain at the nickname. "Krystal, please. My name is Krystal...not Krysty. It really isn't that hard to pronounce, and the nickname is completely unnecessary...not to mention rude since we don't know one another whatsoever."

He smirked. "That might be a little harder to promise."

"What?"

"What?" John mimicked.

Um, excuse me? What did he mean by that? Harder to promise? It's easy. You just say my name the way I want you to say it. As in the correct way. Not that hard really.

Krystan snickered.

"So anyway..." I slowly said, eyeing him cautiously, "please lead the way, I guess."

John saluted at me only to realize that he was saluting before quickly bringing his hand back down to his side. "Can do!" He then gave me a quick wink before walking off ahead.

I crossed my arms as I watched him start walking off. 'You know, Krystan. Deep down I actually feel a little sorry for him.'

'Why is that?'

'For having a wife that resembles me,' I told him. 'She must be really special to him.'

'I am not sure what you are referring to. What is it that you mean by that?' he asked confused.

I sighed and shook my head. 'Never mind.'

"Are you coming?"

I glanced ahead at John who stood a good ten feet away with a slightly worried look on his face. Sheesh. Worry? He really must want forgiveness if he's scared I might not follow him.

"Yeah. I'm coming." I told him. "Slowly but surely," I muttered under my breath.

"I just wanted to double-check. You keep going all spacey-wacey on me. Is everything all right?"

"I promise that everything is-did you just say spacey-wacey?" I deadpanned. His worry disappeared as he grinned and placed his hands into his pockets. I shook my head. "Whatever. But I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah...positive..."

John nodded back but stayed put. He continued to watch me as he waited for me to start moving.

Welp. Time to blindly follow this man and hope he isn't tricking me or taking me to the wrong box. Could be lying this whole time about a wife and was just flattering me and making me feel bad in order to get me to follow. Probably just pretending or something.

Ugh. No! Stop it, Krystal! Stop looking at the negative side of things! Quit with the downer schtick! There is an actual chance that this man could actually be the one to help you find the Doctor and help you get off this planet and back to your people. Twenty years is too long for anyone to be away from home.

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. 'Cross your fingers, Krystan. Let's hope John is our ticket to getting home.'

'I shall try my best,' he said, surprisingly not saying anything about my earlier internal rant.

I snorted, awkwardly releasing the breath that I had sucked in. I then opened my eyes back up and glanced down at my E.T.L. "Okay. Let's do this then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh. Mysterious man name John Smith who wears a bowtie. I wonder who he could be...? 
> 
> Hint, hint, wink, wink ;D 
> 
>  
> 
> Better question though is, when did this Doctor come from? Hmm. 
> 
> Anyway. Good? Bad? Please let me know. Vote, comment, whatever. Feedback is a writer's best friend, lol. Personally, I think this chapter is okay, but I always feel that way about first chapters. It's a bad habit I need to learn to get over. But this one is really yucky, lol. It's all mainly dialogue because the majority of the chapter has the two of them sitting on a bench. Whatever. Not gonna change it. What's done is done. 
> 
> I've gotta tell ya though. I am so glad I thought up Krystan. Originally I made Krystal's E.T.L. smarter than in the other story, but then I decided to just turn the watch into having a "conscious" inside that gave Krystal a friend to talk with. It seemed like an interesting idea. This way she had someone the whole time she was stuck on Earth and gives her someone to talk to whenever she starts to feel like a third wheel to the Doctor and Rose. 
> 
> Otherwise, that's it for now I think. Until next time!


	2. Chapter #1: Shining Light

"All right. Here it is!" John exclaimed, looking back at me with a wink and a grin.

I peered around him and gaped at the blue police box that stood a few feet ahead of us. No way...there's no way that's the TARDIS. How could I search for this box for so many years and yet John show it to be in less than ten minutes?

My eyes, which probably looked hysterical since they were as wide as saucers, very slowly traveled back and forth between the box and John. Finally, I decided to just keep my gaze on John.

John awkwardly cleared his throat and glanced himself at the box. "Um, Krystal..." His hazel eyes looked back at mine. "You alright there?"

I blinked at him. And again. And then again. My mouth opened but embarrassingly no words were able to come out. All I could do was pathetically point at the TARDIS, at John, and then back at the TARDIS.

In unison, both John and Krystan started to laugh. I did my best to ignore Krystan, which is incredibly hard considering he was in my head, and instead lowered my hand as I stared at John. John's laughter grew louder when he saw my confused expression.

"Your face," he wheezed out.

"Huh?" I blinked.

His laughter slowly started to subside, whereas Krystan's grew louder. I winced at the volume and smacked my E.T.L. in warning. I then glared over at John, my eyes burning as they changed red from my irritation.

"Sorry, sorry," he told me, his hands up in surrender.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah." I looked back at the TARDIS and finally gave a big grin, my eyes quickly changing again with the emotion. "I just can't believe you actually did it. You helped me find the blue police box!"

"Told you I knew where it was," he grinned back. "And you didn't believe me," he then teased.

"Well, of course. You're still a stranger after all."

"So?"

I cocked an eyebrow at him. Seriously? "I have a hard time trusting people, especially people whom I've never met before in my life. So, yeah. I was a little bit skeptical of you."

The only reason I even went along with this at all was that he sounded so sure he absolutely had seen the blue box. I couldn't pass that up. The slightest chance at finding the Doctor I wasn't going to pass up. Well, I almost did, but that was for an entirely different reason. If the physical contact hadn't happened, I probably would've followed him like a lost puppy, not even questioning his possible motive.

John awkwardly coughed. I blinked and looked back at him. "So I assume then that this is the box you were searching for?"

"Guess we'll find out, huh?"

I took in a deep breath, releasing it with a confident state of mind. Okay. Here we go. Please be the TARDIS. I'm not sure what I'll do if you were just an ordinary police box.

I headed straight towards the blue box. When I was a foot away, I paused and just stared at it. Goddess I would look like a fool right now if this wasn't actually the TARDIS. How embarrassing would that be? I held my breath as I slowly brought up a hand and pressed it against the blue wood.

I gasped, tensing in surprise at the feeling of the box. Considering the TARDIS was actually alive, I expected some sort of soft, warm thrumming that indicated it was indeed alive. What I got though...was nothing. I felt nothing. Nothing but coldness. What the bloody hell?!? If this wasn't the TARDIS, then what was it? Were real blue police boxes actually still around because I've never seen one. My hand on the wood angrily closed into a fist, and I had to use all willpower I had to keep myself from pounding the wood in frustration. Forgetting that John was literally feet away, my body began to tremble.

"I'm not sure...I'm not..." I started to say between heavy breaths. "I don't think this actually is-"

I was cut quickly off by a white light suddenly shining off the box. My head snapped down, and I stared at the source of it. My E.T.L.? Krystan? What? My eyes widened. Why was he scanning the box?

After a few seconds, the light suddenly shut off. I continued to stare down at my watch, holding my breath once more as I waited for the end result. Finally, the watch flashed a green thumbs-up, indicating that it was done.

'Miss, please do remember in the future that I am but right here on your wrist and in your head,' Krystan smugly said. I could just see the smirk on his holographic face.

'Wait. Were you scanning to see if it's the...if it's...?'

'It's real. It's the TARDIS.'

My eyes widened, a giant grin forming on my face. I instantly whooped and wrapped my arms around the box without a care in the world. I was right! It was the TARDIS! I found the Doctor!!!

Finally!

'Now for why the box feels dead is an answer I, unfortunately, do not have though,' Krystan said in thought. 'Guess it will have to be another thing we find out about Time Lords so I can have it added to my databanks.'

"Krystal?"

I froze a moment. I still had wholly forgotten that John was behind me. He saw my freakout. I softly gasped. Worse. He saw the light from my E.T.L. Wait. Why didn't he ask me about that? Maybe he didn't see the light. Oh please let that be the case.

I spun back towards him, acting like none of what had happened had actually happened. "Thanks, John," I whispered.

"So," he gestured towards the box with a grin. "I'll take that as a yes then? This is it? You found your box and thus this Doctor?"

My eyes burned for a split second, and I was absolutely positive they changed to an electric blue color to express my excitement. Thank Goddess I'm wearing my blue contacts today. My eyes have been changing colors like crazy this whole time I've been around him.

"Absolutely yes! Oh, I could almost just kiss you right about now!"

John smirked at me as his hands came up and adjusted his bowtie. "Well the wife might be a bit upset but if you really do insist."

I brought up a hand when I saw him take a few steps closer. "I said almost, John. I'm not actually going to kiss you. Not now or ever. Sorry. Now then." I turned back to face the door of the blue police box and brought a hand up to it. I rapped my knuckles loudly against the wood for several moments before dropping my hand to my side. I then took a small step back so I could be out of the way when the door finally opened.

"Guess I'll go and take my leave then," John told me. I looked over at him over my shoulder. Why did he look sad? "I've done my job well, I think."

"Very well I'd say," I replied with a small grin. "You may have just saved my life."

"How so?"

"Let's just say I've had a load of things happen to me over the years and the Doctor may be the only one who can help me fix everything."

John frowned for a moment before shaking his head. "This Doctor must be something special then, huh?"

I nodded, confused with his actions, and turned back to the blue box. I slowly brought up a hand and placed it against the wood once more. I gently started to stroke the TARDIS with my thumb. "I've been told he's just like his name says. He IS a doctor. He's kind, and wise, and just wants to help others. He wants to heal them of dark times; to rid them of the evil that surrounds us in the shadows."

When I faced John again, his frown was gone, and there was a smile in its place, but it wasn't reaching his eyes. It kind of looked a little sad. Why does he keep smiling at me like that? "Well, Krystal, I have a good feeling that the Doctor will become your shining light in this universe."

"Really?"

He nodded. "Absolutely. And my feelings are almost always right."

"Thanks, John. That's nice to hear."

John gave a mock salute. "Good luck then." He then turned around and began to walk away.

I took a step towards him with a hand reaching out in his direction. "John, wait!" He slowly stopped and glanced back at me with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Thank you again! Truly! I'm serious when you really don't know how much you just helped me. You mentioned your feeling of the Doctor being my shining light, but right now you're my shining light." I gave a small smile. "Without you, none of this would even be possible."

His eyes brightened up at that, and I know for a fact the smile he gave me was his biggest one tonight. "You're welcome."

"I hope to see you again!" My eyes widened once I realized what I had said. I stared down at the hand I still had outstretched. Slowly, I pulled it back to my person.

Why the bloody hell did I just say that?

John chuckled and adjusted his bowtie. He seemed to do that a lot, it seems. "Oh, I think we'll meet again soon," he told me with a wink.

Thankfully he was far enough away at this point that he couldn't see my cheeks flush a little. My eyes had also burned for a split second, but I ignored them.

Krystan started loudly laughing in my head. 'Do you have a crush, Miss? You have just met after all.'

'Shut up! I don't have a crush on him! Besides, even if I did, he said he has a wife, remember!'

'Uh huh.' I could just picture his smug face in my head causing Krystan to crack up again. Goddess I'm surprised I haven't gone crazy from all the laughing he does in my noggin. 'Besides, I am in your head. Unless you try really hard, you can not hide things like that from me.'

I flushed again, even harder this time. My eyes burned again, and I just know that this time they were orange from my embarrassment. I was reaching the point that I wish I could just go and die in a hole right about now. Kristen laughed even harder. I hate that Krystan can feel my emotions. Hate it.

'Krystan, I swear to the Goddess...'

"See ya later then, Krysty." I blinked at the words, coming out of my thought conversation with Krystan. I had forgotten John was still standing in front of me!

I quickly nodded. "Yes. See ya." I blinked again before narrowing my eyes at him. "And it's Krystal, not Krysty!"

John started to laugh as he once again began to walk away from me.

Once John was finally out of sight, I sighed and leaned back against the TARDIS. Where had that blush even come from? I don't even know the guy! I mean, sure, he was good looking if you enjoyed that youthful appearance. But he has a wife! Ugh. I pressed my hands against my face. I did not need this right now. I just wanted to go home.

'If you ask me, I think you need a man in your life, Miss. You are much too lonely.'

'Guess it's good I didn't ask you then, huh?' I mentally grumbled.

He laughed. 'I guess so.'

'Besides, I don't need a man. I have you, Krystan. You're the only thing that honestly matters to me. And if going back home doesn't work out...I'll still only have you and only you.'

'Miss, I...'

The next second a glowing light came forth from my watch. It started to form a shape, and soon enough I had the hologram of Krystan standing before me. He grinned sadly at me, but I was too busy looking all around to make sure no one saw him.

"You can't just go and do that, Krystan!" I yelled at him. I could almost rip out his blonde locks from his stupidity sometimes...if not for the fact that he was a stinking hologram. "What if someone had seen? What if John is still around?"

"We are fine," he told me. Oh, I wish I could smack his pretty face right about now. "I scanned the area. No one is in close enough proximity to have seen anything."

I glared up at him before sighing. "The point still stands." In response, he grinned his perfect teeth back at me and winked. I groaned and buried my head in my hands. "Please don't do that. It's weird. And creepy."

He snickered. "It is not my fault that I look the way I do."

"I know...but still...don't do it please."

He was right. Krystan's design was primarily based off of me. Tall and lean, actually he was a little bit taller than me but still, short wavy blonde hair and blue eyes (that changed based on my emotions instead of his), and he appeared to be the same age as me. Hell, his designers even gave him the name Krystan because my name is Krystal. If I ever wondered what I would look like as a boy...Krystan was it.

Even his personality is supposedly based off of me, but I don't see it. Nope. Not one bit.

Now the thing about the E.T.L. holograms is each one is supposed to be different. No two holograms are the same design. So, Krystan could have looked like anyone, had any personality, and had any name. But no. The people who developed Krystan's E.T.L. were down on time and went with the fastest thing they could do with what they had. Make him precisely like me. Or almost precisely like me. They also wanted to make it so he was special to me.

And oh how special Krystan is.

You should see the looks Krystan gets though when we're in public. I can't count the number of times Krystan has been flirted with, and I glared at, because of his looks. Half the time I try to keep Krystan inside of the watch because of all the looks. Krystan is almost like a god to others. He can't not look perfect. And on top of that, he was designed to wear a pristine black suit with a gorgeous navy blue tie...yeah. Most people fantasize about a guy like him.

Too bad those same people don't realize that they can also accidentally walk right through him if we aren't careful enough.

Anyway, I just think they took my general appearance and personality and upped it a hundred and ten percent when they gave it to him. There's no way in a million years I could ever look that hot and have people on the street flirting with me left and right. Honestly, to the people who glare at me and probably think I'm his girlfriend or something, I'm quite surprised at. If Krystan were actually real, he definitely would not be hanging out with someone like me. The only way the two of us could ever be stuck together is if we were brother and sister or something like that.

I shook my head and brought my attention back to Krystan, who I thought had been watching me, but instead found he was ignoring me and inspecting the box with a hand held up to his chin in thought.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You knocked...and yet no one has answered the door yet."

I blinked. I had knocked, hadn't I? Back when John was still here. That was what? Maybe five minutes ago tops? I hesitantly brought my hand back up and knocked again, harder and louder this time. After another minute or so of waiting, I tried once more. This time I sounded almost desperate.

Still nothing.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" I demanded. "I finally find the TARDIS and the Doctor, and he isn't even home?!? Ugh!" I buried my head in my hands. "Now we have to wait...and who knows how long that could take."

Of course, this could only happen to me. I already had the worst luck in the world, so it apparently makes sense that I would come and find the Doctor on the one day that he isn't home to play. I sighed and pressed my palms against my eyes. They then slowly slid down my face until my fingers were just covering my eyes. After a few seconds though of staring into the blackness created by my fingers, I separated them on both sides and peeked through to stare at the box. Nope. Still no answer. I groaned loudly and threw my hands in the air.

"Fantastic...just bloody fantastic..." I mumbled.

"I can find him if you want me to," Krystan told me. He raised an eyebrow and gave a little smirk. "Want me to?"

My eyes widened at him as my hands came back down to my person. "Oh, yeah...you can do that, can't you?"

Krystan rolled his eyes at me. "Did you actually forget, Miss?"

"It's been a long night!"

Krystan shook his head as he brought up his hands and placed them so they could be as close to the TARDIS as possible for him. His body immediately stilled and his eyes closed. After a few seconds, one of his eyes twitched and then his whole face was scrunched up in concentration.

I anxiously watched him. Oh please pick up on something, Krystan. Anything. Come on. If not this would be a cruddy night if we had to wait who knows how long until the Doctor came back.

Five minutes passed before his eyes shot open and he looked over at me.

"Got something?"

"There's regeneration energy," he told me. He brought his hands down and closed his eyes. "The Doctor has recently regenerated within the past few hours. I can detect the particles, and they are still very strong."

"Meaning...?"

He grinned at me, eyes still closed. "Meaning, Miss, that I can follow the particles straight to the Doctor himself."

My eyes burned in excitement. "Seriously? That's wonderful news! I wish I could hug you right about now!"

His eyes opened, showing the electric blue color that mine had turned into. He then feigned a hurt look. "A hug? I feel insulted, Miss. You offer me a hug but John a kiss," he teased. "You must be crushing on him if that is so."

And there go my cheeks again. Great. Yep. Now the eyes. Krystan laughed as his changed to orange as well.

"I'm not going to offer you a kiss, Krystan, when your design is based on me. It's like kissing one's self. It's weird and gross."

"Yes. That is exactly the reason, I bet."

I rolled my eyes as I gestured ahead. "Can we just go now, please? The faster we can find the Doctor, the better."

His smirk grew. "You are so bossy today."

I ignored him.

"That Human really must have gotten to you."

I still ignored him.

"But all right. Let us head off then. It is not too far of a walk. I promise."

I nodded my head. "Thank you. Let's go."

He nodded back and closed his eyes, instantly leading the way with one hand outstretched to keep detecting the particles. I followed just a few paces behind him to not get in his way.

"So what exactly is it that he has done again?" I asked as I folded my arms over my chest to help me against the cold. My grey jacket was almost doing nothing to keep me warm. I think I needed a new one. One that was heavier.

"He has regenerated, Miss," he told me.

"Meaning what exactly?"

Krystan stopped. He turned around so suddenly that I accidentally walked right on through him. I shivered after passing through and gave Krystan a moment to fix his image. When he was completely solid looking again, he raised an eyebrow at me, eyes still closed and pretended that I hadn't just accidentally walked straight on through him.

"You honestly do not know?" I shook my head but then remembered his eyes were shut so told him no. "Regeneration is the most basic knowledge that I have upon Time Lords. That and of them only having two hearts."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry for forgetting. My memory isn't like yours, okay? And besides, it's been twenty years since we've landed here. Give me a break. Basic Time Lord knowledge wasn't my top priority when we first arrived here."

He sighed and started forward once again. I quickly ran to catch up. "When a Time Lord dies his or her body renews itself. By renew, I mean there is a physical change and sometimes even a psychological change. The Time Lord is still the exact same person he/she was before, they just now look completely different and may sometimes even act differently. It is the same person mentally, but with a different body on the outside. Same soul, different skin. They do still retain memories from their past self or selves as each body is the same person."

"I'm not sure if that's awesome or not," I truthfully told him. "Sounds just as bad as my current circumstance."

"You believe living forever is terrible?"

"To me at least." I sighed, our eyes turning back to their normal blue color. "What's the point in never being able to grow old and die when I have no one to spend it with?"

"You have me, Miss," he softly reminded me. "Remember?"

"I know, I know. And I was even saying how you are all I ever need in this universe. But what am I going to do when the day comes, and you break, and I can't fix you? Technology now isn't the same as what we have in the future. I'll be lost without you, Krystan."

"Miss..."

I shook my head and cut him off. "Forget it. I'm ruining our joyous moment. It won't matter once we return home anyway. Everything will be okay then, and we won't have to worry about any of this."

We had reached a set of stairs at this point. It was part of a building which looked to house multiple families. Strangely, staring up at the building were three people dressed in some bizarre looking Santa Clause outfits. I tried to ignore them, but I couldn't help but stare just a little from the corner of my eye. Christmas Eve or not, they were kind of creeping me out a wee bit. Must be some holiday tradition of theirs or something. But who would want their child being around something like that on such a joyful holiday? Humans were so strange.

Krystan glanced over at the three Santas curiously, his eyes opening for a few seconds, but otherwise, he ignored them as he started up the staircase and closed his eyes again. I quickly trotted up after him. He didn't speak again until we stood before a particular door. His hand waved over top of the door for a moment before he nodded to himself.

His eyes opened once more and looked back at me. "Here we are."

"Thank you, Krystan."

He nodded again and then gave a slight bow. When he came back up, his eyes appeared a bit sad. "Do not have too high hopes, okay?"

"What do you mean?"

Krystan looked as if he wanted to elaborate but instead shook his head. "Never mind." He gave me a small smile. "Call for me if you need my assistance. Otherwise, I will be listening in as I recharge." He then disappeared in a flash of light, back into his home inside the E.T.L.

I frowned, confused by his words, before shrugging it off. "Here goes nothing," I murmured. I brought up a fist to knock upon the door.

All right, Doctor. Hope you are prepared for Krystan and me. The two of us are quite a handful, and we have a large request for you.

Just as I was about to bring my hand down upon the door, it was flung open, and I came face to face with a slightly older looking male. His brown hair was hanging over his eyes a little, and he was wearing a blue dressing gown over a pair of pajamas. I instantly blushed as we locked eye. His brown with my blue. Wait. Scratch that. They just changed colors. Shoot. Once more, thank Goddess for the contacts I had on.

His eyes widened a bit in surprise as the two of us stared at one another. His eyes then slid down my face until they landed on my choker. His eyes widened even more, and he locked eyes with me again. "What is a Colorian doing in twenty-first century Earth?"

My own eyes widened in shock. This had to be the Doctor! The Last Time Lord! The man I've been looking for almost twenty years! Who else would know I was a Colorian by just looking at my choker!

Wait. Why am I blushing still?

Krystan's loud laugh echoed through my head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright then. Second chapter, baby! This chapter still feels meh, but I think it gets better as it goes on.
> 
> But with the ending of this chapter, we start into the halfway point, I believe anyway, of "The Christmas Invasion". Whoo!
> 
> Now for those curious, and since I didn't do this first chapter, I imagine Krystal looking roughly like Helena Mattsson who is the girl on the cover (though honestly you can imagine her looking like whatever you want actress wise, haha).
> 
>  
> 
> And Krystan looks more like Alex Pettyfer, specifically from the movie "I Am Number Four".
> 
>  
> 
> The two don't look exactly alike like I wrote in the chapter, but Alex is the first actor I imagined when I created Krystan and Helena was the original actress (well, kind of) from my first story
> 
> The two don't look exactly alike like I wrote in the chapter, but Alex is the first actor I imagined when I created Krystan and Helena was the original actress (well, kind of) from my first story. So, she stuck around and Alex joined the gang!
> 
> And I decided I'm going to add the eye color stuff down here so hopefully in the future I won't have to explain the colors and emotions in detail in the story. Just one or the other, unless a new emotion/color is written. I'm going to write the main emotion followed by other examples the color represents, and I'll continue to do so in all future chapters down here.
> 
> So in order of appearance is (I hope I didn't miss any):
> 
> Orange - Embarrassment or Shame
> 
> Red - Anger, Indignation, Resentment, Annoyance, Dissatisfaction, Frustration
> 
> Electric Blue - Ecstasy
> 
> I based some of the emotions and colors off of mood rings. Just as an FYI. It's not exact, of course, since I wanted it to be a little different than your typical mood ring, but I figured mood rings were a good starting point.
> 
> Until next time!


	3. Chapter #2: The Sycorax

"Oomph!"

The Doctor and I blinked at one another before looking behind him at the three Humans who had come forth from the door that he had come out of. The one in front, a young female blonde, must've been the one who had made the noise for she was awkwardly being held up by the male behind her and rubbing at her face. After a few seconds, she righted herself up and stared at us with widened eyes. Well, the stare was more directed at me than the Doctor. The other two Humans just look plain confused.

"Um, hi," I awkwardly said with a quick wave. "How's it going?"

My words seemed to snap the Doctor out of his thoughts. He shook his head and rushed by me to the railing without saying a word.

The girl in front seemed to snap out of her daze too for her eyes quickly narrowed in suspicion. "Who're you?" she asked.

"Krystal. My name is Krystal," I replied. "I'm here because of him." I pathetically pointed behind me at the Doctor.

"And what do you mean by that?"

I winced at the threatening undertone that went with the question. I quickly faced the Doctor and brought my hands up in a surrendering pose at the narrowed eyes he was giving me.

"Not like that," I quickly told him.

"Then why?" he asked. He marched right back to me and stared me down. I swallowed and took a tiny step back, making sure not to bump into the Humans. "Because we all were just attacked by a Christmas tree by someone who is trying to get to me. If you are with them, I will warn you right now that I do not take kindly to threats of any sort."

It took me a moment to remember how to use my mouth to speak. "What?!? No! I just meant that I need your help!"

The Doctor continued to eye me for a few more seconds before his demeanor quickly changed. He gave me a look of confusion as his head cocked. "Help with what?"

I gaped at him. How could someone almost threaten you one second and then act like it didn't happen the next? Who was this man?!?

The girl quickly butted in, though, before I could answer him. "Do we really have time for this?"

He blinked before nodding at her. He then looked back at me. "I'm busy right now so whatever it is will have to wait until later."

"Okay..." I breathed out as the Doctor spun back around and went over to the railing once again.

Couldn't really complain anyway. I need to stay on his nice side if I had any chance of him helping me. So whatever issue was going on here was going to have to put my problem off to the side. Besides, I've waited this long. It wouldn't kill me to wait a little longer.

The girl stared at me for a few seconds before moving over beside the Doctor. I awkwardly took a step back and leaned against the pillar so she could go past. The other two Humans quickly followed the first, still looking super confused at everything going on as they moved past me.

'What do you think they are looking at?'

'Presumably something alien,' Krystan said.

'But the only thing down there are those...Santas...' I blinked and bit my lip. 'You don't think...?'

'It is possible.'

'But they're just people in suits, right? What could be wrong with that?'

"That's them," the Human male said. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked over at the three Humans and the Doctor. They were all leaning over the railing and staring down at possibly the Santas. "What are they?"

The younger girl quickly shushed the male.

When none of them were paying much attention, I moved slightly over and looked over the railing too. The only thing down there still were the Santas. They weren't actually showing concern towards them, were they? There's no way. They were just people in Santa outfits. They didn't seem dangerous when we passed by them.

Without uttering a single word, the Doctor held up what I came to recognize as a sonic screwdriver. He pointed it straight down at the Santas with a hard frown on his face. A few moments later a bright blue light shined down from the sky. My eyes widened a smidge as the light aimed itself down directly upon the Santas, causing them to disappear. After they were gone, the light immediately vanished.

Bloody hell. They were alien.

'Was that a teleport?'

'Yes. I believe though the better question is who the teleport, and thus those Santas, belong to.'

'You think there's going to be trouble?'

'Highly likely. There has to be a reason for why they disappeared so quickly if all the Doctor had to do was point a sonic screwdriver at them. Are they afraid of the sonic, the Doctor, or is there something else going on that we do not know about?'

'Can't be the sonic. Who would be afraid of tha-?'

I was jolted abruptly out of my conversation with Krystan when the Time Lord suddenly let out a loud grunt and fell back against the opposite wall. A loud groan of pain escaped from his lips.

Wait, what just happened?

I stared over in surprise at him, confused as to why this had happened all of a sudden. My eyebrows furrowed. What did I miss? Was there something wrong with him? Was he okay? He can't die now! Not after I just literally found him...

"What happened?" the girl worriedly asked him. "What's wrong?" She and the other two Humans gathered around the Doctor.

"You woke me up too soon," he explained to her. He started to pant. "I'm still Regenerating. I'm bursting with energy." As if to prove his point he opened his mouth wide and allowed a ton of golden energy particles to expel from him and into the air. This must have been what Krystan had been tracking to find the Doctor. The Regeneration particles. "You see? The Pilot Fish could smell it a million miles away." Pilot Fish? Does he mean the Santas? "So they eliminate the defense, that's you lot, and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of year-!" The Doctor cut himself off to give out a yell of pain. "Ohh!" He then fell forward again and ended up right by my legs, his shoulder brushing with my right knee.

I immediately tensed. He was touching me. Holy frick...he was TOUCHING ME! I quickly bit my lip and scrunched my eyes shut. My fists balled up by my sides. It took every ounce of me not to kick my leg out and throw him away from me.

'Miss, I know you have an issue with being touched, but you need to relax and breathe. If this man is on the verge of death, you can not help him if you are too busy focusing on the contact being made.'

I swallowed but took in the deep breath like Krystan had told me to. 'You sound like you are concerned for the Doctor,' I said back. It didn't always work, but sometimes Krystan could distract my thoughts a little just by forcing me into a conversation.

'I am only concerned for you, Miss. Without the Doctor, you will never be able to get back home as you so wish to and move on with your life. So please just keep taking in deep breaths to calm your nerves.'

'How am I even supposed to help him anyway? We know nothing about Time Lords! Let the Humans do it.'

Now I can just hear the disappointment in his voice. 'Really? Let the Humans do it? You must be kidding. They know just as much as we do. No. Let me rephrase that. They know even LESS than us, Miss.'

I snorted, my nerves finally starting to calm down as Krystan wanted.

And then regretted it.

"Did I say something funny?"

I opened my eyes and blinked until everything came back into focus. "Huh?"

The older woman was currently crouched in front of the Time Lord, holding on to him and slightly glaring at me.

'Krystan? Any idea what she was saying?'

'Absolutely no idea, Miss.'

'I was afraid you would say that.'

The next moment the Doctor groaned and then flung himself away from me (oh thank the Goddess!), ending up against the wall of the building. I'm not sure what it is that I missed while talking to Krystan, but we spoke long enough to at least keep my focus off the Time Lord being pressed up against me. That would be a win in my book, even if I did entirely miss the conversation that apparently happened.

The Humans quickly surrounded the Doctor. "We haven't got much time. If there's Pilot Fish, then-" the Doctor began.

He suddenly broke off mid-sentence and reached into the dressing gown that he had on. My eyebrows shot up at the red fruit he pulled out. "Is that an apple?" I couldn't help but ask.

"It appears to be," the Doctor slowly said as he studied the fruit. His brown eyes then traveled up from the apple and met with my blue ones. He stared at me for a few seconds. "What was your name again?"

I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. "Krystal," I deadpanned. I said this. Earlier. Like a few minutes ago. I get he's maybe dying, but come on!

He looked like he wanted to say more, but instead turned to the others. "Why is there an apple in my dressing gown?"

"Oh, that's Howard. Sorry. Sorry," the oldest female told him.

"He keeps apples in his dressing gown?" the Doctor asked.

"He gets hungry," she explained.

The Doctor looked back down at the apple and then up at her. "What? He gets hungry in his sleep?"

"Sometimes."

"Humans are so weird," I muttered. The younger female gave me a strange look before looking back at the Doctor.

The Doctor, though, suddenly groaned. He slid down the wall until he was basically lying upon the ground. "Aah! Aah! Brain...collapsing."

My eyes widened at that statement as he gasped in pain. Wait. Was he actually dying?!? Bloody hell!

The Doctor turned and looked up at the younger female. "Aah! Aah! The P-Pilot Fish...the Pilot Fish mean...that something...something..." By this time, the Doctor was breathing heavily as he tried to force the words out of his mouth. It took him another moment before finally getting out, "Something is coming," before fainting, causing the three Humans around him to gasp in alarm.

I stared in disbelief. Did he just-? Is he...?

'Instead of just wondering if he is or is not deceased, how about you go and check his pulse!' Krystan chided me.

I frowned and bit my lip. 'But then I'd have to...'

'Touch him? Why yes. You would.' I released my lip and frowned harder at his comment, my eyebrows furrowing in annoyance at his tone. 'Now it is time to get over it, Miss, and make sure he is still breathing!'

'Can't you just scan him or something?'

I could just picture him pinching the bridge of his nose. 'Seriously, Miss? You are the one who requires his assistance. I believe you can suck it up for one moment to check his pulse and make sure he is still alive. Besides, it will be a lot faster than me scanning him just to check. Though at the rate this conversation is going, me scanning him will be much faster!'

I couldn't tell if that was disappointment in his voice or annoyance.

My eyebrow twitched as I grumbled, 'Goddess, I hate it when you actually make sense.' I then sighed while slowly starting to pull off one of my black gloves. I lowered to one knee, making sure not to touch anyone else, and reached out my gloveless hand. If I did this quick enough, I might not even realize that I was actually doing it at all. Just needed to feel the pounding of his pulse and I can step away.

I closed my eyes as some of my fingers started to make contact with the side of the Doctor's neck.

Immediately, though, my eyes shot back open, and I yanked my hand quickly away with a gasp. I stared in shock down at my hand and then at where I had been pressing my fingers on his neck.

That was very weird. The moment I had made skin contact, a strange electrical feeling had shot up my arm, causing the hair on my arms to stand up. It felt just like the spark that John had given me. What the heck was going on? Not even on my home planet was I ever shocked like that before. But yet, two men can do that to me in one day.

'Miss?' Krystan sounded confused. 'What happened? Why did you pull away? There is no way you were able to get a pulse that fast.'

I blinked, snapping from my thoughts. Krystan may be able to hear my thoughts and have my emotions, but he can't physically feel things that I touch. It's one concept he doesn't quite understand and can make it hard to describe to him.

'Umm, yeah. I just forgot that he had two hearts is all. The second heartbeat threw me off.' I quickly stood back up and pulled my glove on. 'I'm fine, Krystan. Promise.'

'I do not believe you.' I had to force myself not to roll my eyes. 'But I will not question you if you wish not to indulge me in whatever it is that really has you feeling this way. At least not now.'

"Hello?" A hand appeared in front of my face and started to snap their fingers at me. I jolted, looking up and finding the hand belonged to the younger female. She gave me an odd look. "I was talking to you."

"Um, sorry. I, uh, I guess I zoned out there for a moment."

"Yeah. I noticed." She irritably sighed. "I was asking you why you're here. You know the Doctor even though he doesn't know you and you referred to us as Humans. It's obvious you're an alien"

"Okay. You caught me. I'm an alien." I gestured down at the Time Lord who was still passed out on the ground. Great. You just couldn't have woken up from the weird spark, could you? "And I mentioned why I'm here. I need his help."

"Yeah. I get that. But what help? Who exactly are you?"

"All you need to know is I'm a Colorian, and the help I need has to do with my species. Okay? That's the gist of it."

"But how did you even find him? He has a ship that can travel through time and space. The chance of finding him would be so slim, impossible even."

"Well, all it took was some luck, I guess. I ran into a man who had seen the TARDIS and was able to take me to it and then I used this once we got there to actually locate the Doctor." I held out my arm with the E.T.L. on it and gestured at it.

"What is it?"

"An Extraterrestrial Locator. It can scan and track down aliens." I glanced back down at the Time Lord who was still unconscious. We had to get him out of the open. He might have made those Santas disappear, but he's too vulnerable like this. He needs to get inside. "We should probably finish this conversation inside. From the sounds of it, you guys have trouble. And if they want the Doctor, he's going to be a sitting duck if we just go and leave him out here where he's vulnerable."

"And why exactly should we listen to you?" the male asked. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. That's it. Totally ignore the girl making sense and let's continue to converse! It'll be okay! "We have no reason to trust you at all. You're just some strange girl off the streets!"

My left eye twitched. Girl? I was definitely older than him by a long shot!

'Would you like for me to come out and explain?' Krystan asked.

'No. Not yet. Besides, I've got this.'

I took in a deep breath, pulling my hands towards my chest with the breath and then pulling them away as I released it. I then looked each Human in the eye. "Right now all you need to know is that I can HELP you. Whatever is currently happening at the moment appears to be alien of some sort, right? Judging by the beam that took those Santas away. Now, since I'm from a species that is full of knowledge and resources that you won't have for hundreds and hundreds of years, actually millions if I want to be a bit more specific, then you'll want me to not only stay, but you'll want to listen to me too." I pointed down at the Time Lord. "Thankfully, he's just passed out in some sort of comatose state, but until he wakes up, you have no one with the alien knowledge it will take to possibly beat these aliens. Right?" I crossed my arms, waiting for one to say otherwise. None of them did. "So what have you to lose? Besides, I'm not going anywhere any time soon. I literally can not go anywhere. I'm stuck here until he wakes up and I can talk to him. So I can either be stuck here with all of you and try to help to the best of my abilities or be stuck here and keep to the sidelines, out of sight and silent. Your choice."

The older woman and the male looked towards the girl. She frowned and stared down at the Doctor while brushing a bit of his hair from his eyes. Finally, she sighed. "Mickey, help me take him back inside please." The male Human, or Mickey as she called him, moved forward and bent down to grab the Doctor by his legs as she stood up and grabbed hold of his arms. The eldest female quickly opened the door and held it for them. As the two struggled to get the Time Lord back into the apartment, Rose glanced over at me. "Fine. Stay. If it means helping him get back on his feet sooner, then I don't care. But don't you dare do anything funny!"

I quickly scurried after them so the older woman could come in and shut the door. "Um, well, I can try and help with the Doctor." I had meant help for the bad aliens but whatever. "I don't really know too much about Time Lords except for the basics. Two hearts, regeneration, etc." I then paused and looked down at my E.T.L. "But maybe Krystan can be more of assistance to you though..."

'Is it my time to finally shine, Miss?' Krystan asked amused.

'Yeah, yeah.'

Plus, thinking about it, maybe helping heal the Doctor will put us on his good side and make him more inclined to want to help us. Considering the conversation we had, it still feels like he might be a bit wary of me and unwilling to trust me, especially inside of his TARDIS.

I entered the room that the two Humans had taken the Doctor into. I blinked at the fragments of wood scattered throughout the room. I brought up a hand and grazed the doorway where the door and part of the wall were missing.

What happened in here?

I watched the two Humans place the Doctor down softly onto the bed. Mickey then said something about getting his laptop before heading out of the room. The female followed behind him but came back a moment later with a wet rag. She sat on the side of the bed and gently started to dab at the Doctor's forehead.

"You said your name is Krystal, right?" she asked. I nodded, refraining myself from saying how that was the third time I was being asked my name. Least she was correct in her assumption. "My name's Rose. Mickey is the one who just left for his laptop, and the other woman is my mum. Her name is Jackie."

"It's nice to meet you all," I told her.

"So, if you're Krystal, then who's this Krystan you mentioned earlier? Is there someone else with you?"

"Krystan is my A.I."

She blinked and stopped dabbing so she could look up at me. "A.I.?"

I nodded. "Yes. Want to meet him?" Before she could respond Krystan appeared beside me. Rose gasped and fell off the bed in surprise. Krystan tilted his head and raised an eyebrow in response at her before glancing over at me. "Rose, meet Krystan. Krystan, Rose."

"What is he?" she asked. She slowly stood up and walked over to us. Krystan frowned as she walked around him while studying him like a sort of specimen.

"I am Miss Krystal's A.I.," he told her.

"He's kind of like a hologram...but not...if that makes sense. He's better than anything you can think of."

Krystan winked at me. I rolled my eyes.

Rose reached out a hand to try and touch Krystan, but he quickly stepped out of the way. "Please do not do that, Miss Rose," he told her.

"He doesn't really like others trying to touch him," I told her. "It's weird for him having people phase through his body purposely." I then frowned at her disapprovingly. "As well as very rude without permission. He might be an A.I., but he has a thought process and feelings."

Krystan smirked at me. "I did not realize how much you cared, Miss."

I gave him a look but couldn't keep the small smile off my face.

Rose blinked, but nodded and pulled her hand back to her side. "Sorry."

"It is okay, Miss Rose. I have learned it is a natural instinct for Humans who have never met a being such as me before."

Rose opened her mouth to possibly argue with him but then shut it as she probably realized he was correct.

I awkwardly gestured to Krystan. "If anyone can help the Doctor get back on his feet, it's Krystan. Just as long as he has the information in his database."

Krystan gave a bow to Rose. "I promise to do my best."

"Thank you?"

"Is there anything you can tell me about the reasoning for his coma?"

Rose shook out of her thoughts before quickly going into a short explanation on how after he had regenerated he had been fine for a bit afterward, weird but fine, until they had landed where he had then proceeded to pass out. And then on top of that, apparently when Krystan and I had been talking while the Doctor had been pressed up against me, he had said something about being woken up too early and that he basically wasn't fully charged yet. Rose's mum had tried to help figure out what exactly he needed, but he hadn't been able to tell them. That's when I had snorted and then was brought back out of my conservation with Krystan.

Krystan nodded. "All right. It is not much, but something to start with." He walked to the Time Lord and stood on the opposite side of where Rose sat. He brought up a hand, closed his eyes, and then placed his palm just a few inches above the Doctor's head to start up a scan. "Miss Krystal," he addressed me.

"Hmm?"

"I am not sure how long this may take," he warned. "It could be a few minutes or a few hours. Please do not go too far."

"Got it."

If I went too far, Krystan would either be forced to follow me (he has to always be at an approximate distance from me at all times) or go back inside of the E.T.L. Neither really is an option if he needed to scan the Doctor for a diagnosis.

Krystan nodded again before his whole body stilled.

Rose stared at him in surprise and then over at me. "What's he doing?"

"He's scanning the Doctor in the hopes of figuring out what exactly is wrong with him," I explained, crossing my arms. Behind me, I could hear the door open and then close. "Speaking of, I'd move away if I were you. You might interfere with his scanning by being too close."

"Sorry." Rose yanked her hand away from the Doctor and stood up.

I then jumped a few inches in the air when I heard the male, Mickey I believe, shout out, "Jackie, I'm using the phone line. Is that alright?" I had forgotten that it wasn't just the four of us and that there were two other Humans.

"Yeah, keep account of it," she told him.

Rose then stood up and made her way to the busted door behind me. She glanced back at Krystan and then me. "You coming?"

I shook my head. "I can't leave his side." And even if I could, I felt a lot more comfortable being around the one person, real or not, in this house who actually liked me and trusted me. "It'll mess with his scanning."

"Here then," Rose held out the rag for me. I gently took it without touching her fingers. "Just in case he seems to get worse." I nodded in understanding. "And I guess you can give us a shout if you need anything."

"I will."

She nodded herself, gave the Doctor one last look, and then exited the room. I sighed the moment she was gone and then looked down at the rag she had given me.

"Tea? It'll warm you up some."

I jumped, again forgetting all the extra Humans in the house, and stared at her. The older female, Jackie, stood where Rose had been a second ago with a mug of tea in her hands.

I shrugged. "Sure. Why not." I gently took the mug from her hand. I wasn't a lover of tea, but I wouldn't say no if asked. "Thank you, uh, Jackie."

"Do you want anything else? Are you hungry?" She then looked behind me and saw Krystan. A confused look came onto her face. "Or your friend...?"

"We're good." I then pointed over at Krystan. "And this is Krystan. He's my A.I."

"Your A.I.?" She blinked.

"Yeah. Or artificial intelligence. He's a hologram who's part of this." I held up my wrist with the device on it for her to see. "My E.T.L."

"Ah...I see." Yeah...I think I just was confusing her the more I spoke. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Krystan." Since he was still scanning, he didn't answer her. "Not much of a talker, huh. Well, that's alright, I suppose." I snickered, and her head snapped back my way. "What did I say funny now?" she asked, looking a little irked.

"Oh trust me. Krystan not a talker? That is the complete opposite of what he is. Sometimes he talks so much you just want him to shut up."

"Then why didn't he answer me? And what exactly is he doing?" I saw her eyebrows furrow in concern as she glanced back over at him and stared at his outstretched hand. "Is he alright?"

"He's scanning the Doctor," I explained. "So he can't quite hear you at the moment. Or me for that matter. It's almost like he's in his head."

"Scanning?"

I nodded. "Yeah. To figure out what's wrong with the Doctor so we can get him fixed."

"I see." I'm still not sure if you actually do, but whatever. It doesn't really matter. "I'll just head back to the living room then. I just wanted to give you some tea since it seems you were sticking around for whatever reason. Does he want some at all?" she asked, gesturing back at Krystan.

This time I grew confused. I raised an eyebrow at Jackie and tilted my head. "He's a hologram. He isn't physically here with us. So...he can't eat or drink. Anything. At all."

Jackie flushed a bit. "Right. Sorry. I forgot for a moment there."

I just told you not even a minute ago that he was an A.I. Why are all Humans so dumb? It's moments like these that make it where I can't wait to get off this planet.

"Come get us if you need something then," Jackie told me, snapping me from my thoughts. "Or if there are any changes, I guess."

Once she was gone, I slumped into the nearest chair and slowly took a sip of the tea. I smiled a little at the warmth that I had been warned. Colorians don't do well in the cold. Our bodies aren't as accustomed to it as our Human ancestors. The warmer, the better. Thankfully it wasn't too terribly cold right now, but it will be soon, and that's when I was going to need a better winter jacket. If not, I'll probably start to turn into a Krystal popsicle. I can't believe I just went and lost my old one. I liked that blue striped jacket. I left it by mistake on a rail, and when I remembered ten minutes later to come back for it, it was gone. People suck sometimes.

I closed my eyes, leaned back, and cradled the tea to my chest. I took in a calming breath before bringing the drink to my lips for a sip. This was nice. Yeah, there might be a group of aliens that want to apparently run their battery or whatever off of the Doctor, but at least I found him. I doubt they are too bad that we can't handle them, even with the Time Lord passed out like this. They might be Humans, but a group of us working together should be good.

For now, though, I wish I had a book to read. Something to pass the time away until Krystan was done. I remember once it took him an entire hour just to thoroughly scan an object. Granted he wasn't fully charged, and the object was several pieces all over the ground, but still. It's tedious having to wait around for him to finish up, especially when I have nothing to do or no one to talk with. Though right now I'd rather have the book over one of those Humans in here to talk to. I mean, no offense or anything, but that Jackie especially makes me wonder why Humans had to be one of the Colorian's ancestors. Sometimes it's so hard to deal with Human stupidity.

Once I had the cup gone, I set it down on the floor beside me and glanced at my watch. Five minutes. It's only been five minutes. I groaned and fell back against the chair again. It was so peaceful in here that it was starting to get boring. I really wish I had that book now.

I started to close my eyes again when I suddenly heard my name. My eyes shot back open in surprise, and I darted from my seat and to the door. I stopped though and looked back at Krystan who was still in the middle of scanning. I couldn't move too much more, or it'll pull him right back into the E.T.L. which will halt the scanning and force him to have to start again once he could come back out.

"What is it?" I stepped out of the door, not daring to move too much more, and looked over at the three Humans who were crowded around a laptop. Rose spotted me and waved me over. I quickly shook my head and pointed back into the room. "I can't leave Krystan."

Rose looked back at the laptop and reached forward, pressing a button several times. What was she doing? It wasn't until noise came from the computer that I realized that she had turned up the volume.

And not just any noise. But an alien language.

The Sycorax.

I paled, my eyes changing color to more than likely brown. Not good.

"Gatz tak ka thaa! Ka zu me fedock, ka zu me Sycorax!"

"Have you seen them before?" Mickey asked Rose.

"No," she replied. The two then looked over at me. "Do you recognize the language, Krystal?"

I cleared my throat a few times to speak appropriately. "Yeah. I do, unfortunately." I swallowed. "They're called Sycorax, and they are not good news whatsoever. I'm not sure what you Humans did, if you even did anything that is, but it can't be good if they have come to Earth."

"I'm not sure if I really want to know the answer, but why can't it be good?" Mickey asked.

I awkwardly scratched the back of my head and looked away. "As in, they might be here to enslave you. To them, you are an inferior race. You're like animals in a sense to them. Some of you can be useful for trivial tasks, while the others could be sold for many reasons. Food being one of them." All three Humans stared at me with looks of disgust. I shrugged, not looking any in the eye still. "Hey, you asked. I supplied. You are technically meat, and some species have no qualms over eating another intelligent being like yourselves."

Rose frowned a little. "And you aren't?"

"What? Intelligent?" My eyes snapped to her in offense.

"I meant the meat part. They wouldn't eat you?"

"Oh. Well, I definitely am meat...but I can guarantee that I will not be sold for that purpose."

I could tell they wished to question me more, but luckily the Sycorax spoke again, and they looked back at the screen.

Krystan and I really needed to get the Doctor back up and running. Which scratch what I said earlier. As a group could we still figure out a plan to stop them? Yes. It is still possible. But the Sycorax travel as a species. So we aren't just dealing with one or two. We have to deal with everyone. That's where the problem lies. It's hard to beat someone when they have their entire species backing them up every step of the way.

But, if we couldn't get the Doctor on his feet, I couldn't just let the Sycorax kill/enslave the Human race. Colorians descend from them. No Humans means no Colorians. And even if a certain percentage of Humans did survive, the timeline would be too ruined, and there's still a high chance Colorians won't exist in the future, and I would disappear.

I shook my head to get out of those thoughts. Now was NOT the time to be thinking like that. I needed to focus on the here and now.

"Adzeek. Kwadra fi peloodza. Kwadra fi milzon bor zu pedra kayi...zu bandak. Zu masak jal ban kulja jiyi sykora jak," the first Sycorax finished.

In unison, all four of them went and exclaimed, "Di-ga gah! Di-ga gah!"

"I don't understand what they're saying," Rose said confused. "The TARDIS translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am."

My eyes widened as I looked over at her. "Wait, seriously?"

Rose smiled a little bit. "Every language that you can imagine it can translate. It can even translate writing for you."

"So, why isn't it doing it now?" Mickey asked her.

"I don't know – must be the Doctor...like he's part of the circuit, and he's..." Rose hesitated, but then realization seemed to hit her. She frowned. "He's broken."

Mickey turned towards me. "Can't you understand them?"

I gave him a look and crossed my arms. "Can you understand Spanish?" He shook his head, realizing where I was heading with the conversation. "I thought not. Just because I'm an alien doesn't mean I can understand all alien languages." I sighed. "Now Krystan, though, should be able to speak Sycorax, but it doesn't matter anyway since he was still scanning the Doctor and thus didn't hear a word that was said."

"You are indeed correct, Miss. I can speak fluent Sycorax as well as hundreds of other languages."

I jumped at Krystan's voice and glared over at him. He was now facing me with a broad smile on his face.

"I swear your timing sometimes is terrible, Krystan!"

"Um, who's that?" Mickey asked.

"My A.I.," I said without looking at him.

"A.I.?!?"

I chose to ignore him as I stepped back into the room and sat back down in the chair I had been in earlier. "So'd you get anything?"

Krystan shook his head. He gestured back at the Doctor. "Unfortunately no. Whatever it is he needs to jumpstart his body, I was unable to figure it out. Time Lord bodies are very complicated. It could honestly be anything."

I groaned. "Great. More bad news."

"More bad news?" He cocked his head at me.

"The Sycorax were just broadcasting to Earth, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that they are planning on enslaving/killing the Human race. With the Doctor out though this spells trouble for everyone, including us." I gave another groan and buried my face in my hands. "Today is turning out to be the worst day ever!" I sighed and pressed my face harder against my hands. "Why the hell did the Doctor have to be in a coma on the day that we find him, Krystan? And on the same day that aliens are trying to take over Earth! What are the freaking bloody odds?!?"

After we found the Doctor, it was all supposed to be smooth sailing from here on out.

"Slim, Miss. Very slim. I could calculate it for you if you wish."

I glared up at him through my fingers. "I'm good, Krystan. It wasn't a question I really needed you to answer."

He grinned cheekily. "I know. I was just trying to lighten the mood for you."

I rolled my eyes but did smile a bit back. I know Krystan was made based off me, but he always did know how to make me laugh. There were honestly times where I would also forget that Krystan wasn't an actual person since he didn't act like the standard A.I. that most people think of when they hear the word. Sometimes he reminded me of my older brothers.

"So I guess we just sit and wait then?" I asked him.

"Unless I can figure out what exactly is wrong with the Doctor, yes we must wait and think of another plan."

"What can we do about the Sycorax though, Krystan?"

He placed a hand to his chin. "Well, there is not much we can really do right now anyway."

"What'd you mean?"

"Even if we knew where the Sycorax were located, it would not matter because we would have no way to get there. Especially if they are still in space."

"What about the TARDIS then?" I said. "That can get us into space."

He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "You know how to drive it? Because that is one thing that I certainly do not know how to do."

"No..." I sighed. Or how to get inside for that matter. "But we still need to figure out a game plan of some kind! What are the Sycorax exactly like? What are their weaknesses? What can we use against them? There has to be something to help us."

There was then a knock on the wall. I turned to the side and spotted Jackie standing there awkwardly. "How's he doing? Any better?"

I looked over at the Time Lord who looked just like he had ten minutes ago when she had come into the room earlier. "Well, I wouldn't say he's worse," I murmured.

Jackie frowned slightly and moved up to the Doctor. She knelt down on the floor and rested her arms on the bed as she gazed at him with a sad look. "Oh, come on, sweetheart," she told him. The only response that he gave back was the sound of his ragged breathing. "What do you need? What is it you need? Tell me."

As predicted, he didn't respond.

Jackie sighed and closed her eyes. "So, you're an alien? Right?"

I cocked my head at her, even though she couldn't see it. "Yes...?"

"Just funny how life's turned out," she mumbled as she placed her head on her arms. "Before I never even believed that aliens existed...now I have two staying in my home and a whole species wanting to enslave us." She opened her eyes just enough to gaze over at me. "What kind of alien are you again?"

I guess there was no harm in telling her some information. Plus, it could get our minds off of everything for a little bit.

I settled back in my chair. "My people are known as Colorians. We exist millions of years in the future, descendants of the Humans and another race known as the Spektrum." She nodded at my words, eyes back to being closed once more. "The majority of us look like Humans, but there are still some Colorians born looking like Spektrums, or even a strange half and half. Me personally, my eyes change colors based on my emotions. Some of the more Spektrum looking Colorians, though, might have their entire skin tone change instead like the Spektrum themselves. Not everyone has eyes or skin that change color, though. I've seen some with hair that changes, others with fingernails. The one thing we all have in common, though, is that we all can feel other people's emotions by skin contact."

"Spektrums, huh?"

I nodded and positioned my legs over the arm of the chair so I could lean back and stare at the ceiling. I haven't talked about this stuff in so long. It felt nice. Surprisingly Krystan was very quiet. He typically always loves to cut me off so he can explain things in much better detail. He says I don't tell things right which apparently confuses people. More like he tells them way too much information and overloads their mind.

"Spektrums are what most would consider a ghost almost. They can't touch other non-Spektrums, and even touching each other isn't the same as two actual physical beings touching another. And when they do try to 'touch others,' all they do is phase through them, which is actually how the Spektrum were able to read other's emotions. Now if they really concentrated, though, they also could possess people, objects, whatever. Sometimes they did it to hide, sometimes because they were bored, and sometimes some were just cruel and wanted to live their life through another's body. The longer a Spektrum possesses an object makes the Spektrum forget that they aren't what they possess. So by possessing a person, for instance, the Spektrum might soon think they are that person they possess while the real soul of the person is locked away...or perhaps even disappears. I'm not sure exactly which happens.

"The first Colorian was born because of possession actually. A Spektrum couple had possessed a Human one for they wanted to experience the feeling of, well, lovemaking. Spektrums aren't born that way. When a couple is ready to have a child, they kind of meld together and create a whole new Spektrum. It's not really a great way to keep a species alive, but since no one knows how Spektrums were initially created, most never did do it. Anyway, the Spektrum couple...did the deed...and immediately left after. A few months later they come back to the same couple only to find the female pregnant. Curious as to the giving of childbirth, the Spektrum couple decided to re-possess the Human ones until the female was to give birth.

"A few more months pass with the Spektrum couple beginning to forget their true form, and soon it's time for the female to give birth. Birth happens and out comes a beautiful baby girl. Everything is all fine and dandy until the child starts crying. The child then opens her eyes, and the couple sees that her bright blue eyes have now turned a startling grey, snapping them out of it and remind them that they are actually Spektrum. Quickly realizing what they have done, they flee the scene leaving a very confused Human couple alone with an eye changing baby."

I frowned. After that, the Spektrum became a hated race as they learned that this was their only way to save their species. They started possessing people left and right, creating eye changing babies everywhere. The Humans never actually learned what was happening, though, until a pair of twins were born, both looking Spektrum in nature but able to be touched and unable to possess others. I can only assume that the Humans thought it was a new gene that was being produced in the Human race. Once the Humans were able to put two-and-two together, though, they then started doing whatever they could to keep from being possessed so no more of these strange babies could be born.

It officially started going downhill when people were trying to kill the defenseless abnormal children. Children who had no reason to die for just being born.

On top of that, a lot of people were refusing to recreate anymore, and soon there was a law against it. They figured that if no one was pregnant, then an unexpected pregnancy was probably the result of the Spektrum and could thus be aborted.

Things were really getting bad.

Thirty years later and the Humans finally realized that they were going to go extinct at this rate. So, Hope, the first Spektrum/Human baby came forward. Her parents had loved Hope her entire life. Spektrum or not, she was still their baby. But they had kept her abilities hidden from everyone for her to live as normally as she could. They had to for other families that had decided to keep their "abomination children" were forced to live in quarantine in their own little rundown town, being put under constant supervision. People were afraid that the strange children would corrupt them...or something stupid like that. And they definitely did not want the children growing up and having more Humans likes them.

Hope knew she had to do something, so she showed the world who she really was.

At first, no one wanted to listen to what she had to say, instead wanting her either in isolation with the rest or even dead, but soon she was able to persuade them to think about living in peace with the Spektrum. If some sort of agreement was made, perhaps the Humans could keep having children, and the Spektrum could possess willing families long enough to keep getting their Spektrum/Human hybrids.

It took a while, two years, I think, but soon the Humans were willing to try. They knew they had to. There was no other option, and the Human race was going to die out if they didn't lift the ban on having children. An agreement was then made with the Spektrum, stating that they could continue what they were doing but only with willing families. To then make it easier for the Spektrum on who was willing and who wasn't, and to make everyone else feel safer, the willing people, Spektrum, and the families with hybrid children were moved to an abandoned planet with supplies being sent once a month to keep them alive until they had a thriving colony.

This planet later became known as Chroma, the same world that we Colorian still 'thrive' on today.

Well, I say thrive very loosely.

To start their new life, Hope, the leader of everyone on Chroma, gave the hybrid children the name Colorians. The name stuck and years later the Colorians were considered their very own species.

Light snoring broke me from my thoughts. I looked away from the ceiling and at Jackie who was fast asleep with her head still resting on her arms which were still on the edge of the bed. Either she was exhausted, or my storytelling put her to sleep. I glanced at my watch and saw at least half an hour had passed. Wow.

I moved my attention back up to Krystan and found him standing completely still with his eyes closed. No wonder he hadn't said a word. He fell asleep. I lightly shook my head and messed with my E.T.L. until Krystan had disappeared. It took a lot of energy for Krystan to remain outside of the watch and considering he's been out of it a lot lately and was scanning quite a bit today, another thing that takes up a lot of energy, he had to be beat. If I wanted him back to working order to help figure out a plan, I was going to have to let him rest.

And honestly, sleep did indeed sound good right about now too. I had to have been up for probably at least twenty-four hours just searching for the Doctor before I even came across John. I think I can afford to sleep just a tiny bit. Besides, there's nothing I can really do right now except wait anyway, especially without the aid of Krystan.

Plus, sleep would be good for my brain. The longer I stayed up, the more I could feel had fuddled my thought process was becoming. Like Krystan, a good recharge was all I needed.

I adjusted myself in the chair with my back pressed against the backside of the chair and then curled my legs to my chest for warmth. Crossing my arms over my chest, I closed my eyes and let my head fall forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm quite positive if I reread this chapter one more time to edit, my brain might explode. And I really want to get this chapter finally uploaded.
> 
> Sorry for taking so long. So much for that once a week goal I wanted to stick to. It's still the goal for the future, but no guarantee. 
> 
> I think I'm realizing what I'm not liking about these chapters. I think it's because this episode isn't my favorite. It's kind of boring and I'm trying to get some background information on Krystal without giving away too much. Hmm.
> 
> Oh well. Please feel free to bookmark, give kudos, and comment for me. It means the world to me. 
> 
> Otherwise, I will try and upload another chapter tonight to make up for it, but once again. No guarantee. But I will try my best!
> 
> Oh yeah.
> 
> There was a new eye color in this chapter.
> 
> Brown - Fear - Startle - Worry - Anxiety - Distrust - Insecurity - Doubt - Nervousness
> 
> And the colors from before are:
> 
> Orange - Embarrassment or Shame
> 
> Red - Anger, Indignation, Resentment, Annoyance, Dissatisfaction, Frustration
> 
> Electric Blue - Ecstasy


	4. Chapter #3: Blood Control

I'm not sure what time it was when I woke up, but whatever time it was now it was definitely morning. My eyes were still closed, but I could see the bright light of the sun through the curtain as it hit me in the face. I slowly opened one eye and flinched at the light. I moved back into a normal sitting position and started to rub at my eyes.

Ugh. I slept in my contacts. Not good. I took the blue contacts out and blinked. I just needed to let my eyes relax and breathe for a little bit, and then I'd be able to put them back in.

I pulled out my contact case from my pocket and placed the contacts inside. I then left the case on the arm of the chair and sat up, glancing down at Krystan who sat on the floor before me. Or well, it looked like he was sitting. Of course, he really wasn't being a hologram and all. In front of him, Krystan had a holographic screen up and was scrolling through it for information with one hand while the other was tapping his leg in thought. I yawned and stretched before leaning in a little closer to see what he was looking up.

"Yes, Miss?" he asked without looking at me.

I jumped in surprise, not realizing he knew I was watching him. "Sorry."

"It is fine." He closed his fist, and the screen disappeared. He looked up at me and cocked his head. "Something the matter?"

I shook my head. "I was just wondering what you were looking up."

He sighed. "I wanted to see if I could find any information on the intergalactic internet about Time Lords that could be of use."

"And?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You would think they did not exist."

"You tried," I told him. "That's what counts."

He became quiet for a few moments, looking down at his legs. After a moment he rested his elbow on his knee, placed his chin on his hand, and looked back up at me. "Sleep well?"

I gave him a sleepy smile. "Yeah, actually. It was wonderful. It's nice to take a nap after being awake for over twenty-four hours." I rubbed at my eyes again and let off another soft yawn. "How long have you been out?"

"About an hour, Miss."

"Go and charge then," I told him, holding my arm up with the E.T.L.

"You sure?"

I winked. "Yeah. Gonna need you in top working order, you know." He gave me a small smile and a soft laugh. "Seriously though, Krystan. Go rest. I'll be fine."

"Thank you, Miss," he said as he started to disappear. "And I apologize again for not being able to do more."

"Please stop," I told him with a frown. "It's really not your fault, okay? There's only so much you can do. I'm not upset with you."

I sighed and stood up to my feet once he was gone. I stretched for a few moments before I moved over to the bed that the Doctor was on and examined him. He was still lying motionless in the bed, the only sign that he was still alive being his chest rising and falling from his breathing. Next, to the Time Lord, Jackie was still passed out.

I stiffened when I suddenly heard Rose and Mickey's voices come in from the hallway. Once I realized who it was, I paused and remained quiet to listen in, curious as to why they were trying to whisper.

"The Doctor wouldn't do this – the old Doctor, the proper Doctor. He'd wake up. He'd save us," Rose said.

"You really love him, don't you?" Mickey asked her.

I frowned. Rose didn't think of this man as the Doctor all because he regenerated? That wasn't right.

'How does she not realize that that man is the same no matter who he turns into?' Krystan asked. 'It sounds like she does not know him as well as she thought she did.'

I turned around and stared at the two of them as they hugged the other. "You need to have more faith."

The two pulled out of their hug. "What?" Rose asked.

"You need to have more faith."

"What are you talking about?"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever negative stuff you are thinking about the Doctor, you need to stop. Try to believe in him a bit."

That's funny. I can straight up tell someone to believe in someone, but I can't do it to myself.

Rose marched into the room and stared down at me. "Watch your mouth. You've no idea at all of what he has put me through."

"Put you through?" I raised an eyebrow. "Enlighten me then because I'm extremely curious as to why you act like the Doctor is such a wonderful person and yet are outraged that he did something completely natural for Time Lords to do when they die. Because I highly doubt he did it on purpose."

She glared off to the side. "He lied to me. I thought I knew who he was but I didn't. I trusted him, and he lied to me."

"Doesn't quite sound like he lied to you if he just chose to not bring it up. Just saying," I pointed out. "Besides, he might look different and seem different than the Doctor who you previously had known, but he's still the same person. The Doctor is the Doctor, even if he doesn't look like the one you first knew."

Rose's frown deepened a bit more, and she looked like she wanted to say more, but she paused when a woman's frantic voice sounded through the house. She and Mickey shared a quick look before they both dashed out the front door. I gave the Doctor and Jackie one more glance before following after them.

Outside a woman was freaking out over the man walking zombie-like away from her. "What is wrong with you?!?" she exclaimed to him. He ignored her as he continued to walk. "Jason? Jason?"

"Sandra." The woman turned and looked over at Rose with a frightened look.

"He won't listen," Sandra told us. "He's just walking. He won't stop walking. There's this sort of light thing. Jason, stop it."

Sandra started to trail along behind after her husband, least I assumed it was her husband. Could be a boyfriend or even a brother or something. It was then I actually noticed that several other people were walking along towards the direction of the roof, all having the same trance-like looks on their faces.

'Krystan? Mind coming back out?'

He laughed. 'I had a feeling I would not be away for long, Miss.'

'Sorry.'

'Oh, please do not be. It is not your fault that people are walking around like zombies.'

I rolled my eyes.

Krystan waited until Sandra wasn't paying attention to me before appearing beside me, thank the Goddess. Rose and Mickey saw him appear though and jumped in surprise. Krystan smiled back at them and winked before walking after the man Jason.

I rolled my eyes again as he walked off. "We'll be back."

"Where're you going?" Mickey asked.

"To figure out the problem," I answered him. "Obviously something is wrong. If you look around, all these people are acting as if they are in some sort of trance. Krystan's going to need to scan some of the people if we are to figure out the cause."

"Miss?" Krystan called. I looked over at him and saw him ten feet away watching Jason walk away from him. "One more step will force me back into the watch."

"Sorry," I told him. I gave Mickey and Rose a quick grin and thumbs up before walking after him. The moment I took my first step, Krystan started walking forward again. I darted after his form, and together we caught up with Jason.

"All right," Krystan said, closing his eyes and raising his hand up to scan the Human. "Let us see if we can locate the issue going on here."

The three of us continued upwards with Jason towards the roof of the building. Once we were finally on the actual roof, with Sandra giving us the most bizarre look as we continued to follow her fellow Human, Krystan opened his eyes and paused in confusion. He stopped following Jason, and I moved beside him.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I can not detect any issue going on in the body to force the Human to be doing what it is he and the others are doing."

"What were you able to detect then?"

"Nothing." He looked at me. "The Human is completely fine."

"But that doesn't make sense," I told him. "All these Humans look like they aren't themselves! Their eyes are glazed, they are unresponsive to others, and they all are coming up to the roof. Something is obviously wrong." I gazed out at all the Humans. "What about mind control of some sort?"

He shook his head. "The device would need to be in either a closer range or be directly upon each Human, and my scanning detected nothing of the sort." Krystan then gained a thoughtful look and placed a hand to his chin. "Though perhaps there is blood control."

"Blood control?"

Krystan nodded. "It would be much simpler to control so many people at once with it."

"Can you scan the Humans to check what their blood type is then?" I asked him.

He smirked. "Can I? You ask that almost as if you do not believe that I can do such a thing."

I rolled my eyes and waved him off. "Go on then. Instead of blabbing about being able to do, it why don't you actually be useful and do it."

Krystan feigned a hurt expression and placed a hand against where a Colorian's heart would be. "Your words hurt, Miss!" He then winked and closed his eyes again. He brought both hands up this time and held them out towards the giant group of Humans crowded around the edge of the roof.

This was going to take a while.

***

I sighed from my position on the ground and glanced at my watch. Twenty minutes. It's been twenty minutes since Krystan started scanning the people. At least a minute a person. I glanced up at Krystan's unmoving form and then at all the people.

The first few minutes all the Humans who weren't under the trance kept giving Krystan and I the strangest looks as they desperately tried to get their friends and family to step away from the edge. Soon though they outright were ignoring us. We might not have looked like we were helping, but we absolutely weren't getting in anyone's way either. Plus, I think some people thought that Krystan was just like all the controlled people, except not on the edge and with his hands stretched out.

Suddenly a loud boom echoed all around us, causing glass in several buildings around us to shatter. I dropped to my stomach and immediately covered my ears. Through the pain, I glanced up at Krystan and saw his eyes snap open in shock as his form flickered several times. Once everything around us settled down, he shook his head a few times, clenched his eyes shut, and rubbed at his temples vigorously.

I slowly sat up and peered up at Krystan. Around us, the Humans who weren't under a control of some sort were either rising back to their feet or straightening themselves out where they had been bent over at the waist. "What was that?" I asked Krystan.

"Sonic wave. The Sycorax must have just entered the atmosphere."

"Not good."

"Indeed." He stopped rubbing his temples and locked eyes with me. "Are you okay, Miss? The noise would have been loud on your ears and possibly caused internal harm."

One of the sucky things about Colorians is we have very sensitive ears.

I stood to my feet and brushed off the dirt on my outfit. "I'm fine. The noise definitely hurt, but not enough so to cause any damage. And even if it did, it's not like it would matter. What about you? Are you okay? You flickered in and out pretty badly there."

"I am fine as well. The sonic wave disrupted my form but nothing too serious."

"That's good."

Krystan pointed at the Humans. "Luckily I was done with my scanning too just before the sonic wave hit us."

"Yeah?" I asked. "You can tell me what you found as we head back to the others. Probably should check up and make sure everyone is still alive, you know?"

Krystan nodded and followed behind me as I led the way back to the home of the three Humans we were currently stuck with. As we walked, Krystan confirmed what we thought was true. The Sycorax were using blood control to control the Humans on the edge of the buildings. Every single Human under the control had the exact same blood type, whereas their worried friends and family had something else. Thing is though, more than likely the controlling machine with the original blood sample was on the Sycorax ship. Unless we could figure out another way to jam the machine's signal that reached out to all the A-positive blood types, the only way to stop it was to get on to the ship.

Which meant all those Humans were screwed since I had absolutely no clue as to how to get up there.

Well, kind of actually. There's no way those Sycorax can make the Humans jump off the edge of the roof, willpower is too strong to do that when it comes to just using blood control, but that didn't mean they couldn't use their power to do something just as terrible.

Man, this day was just getting worse and worse. I know I said I'd help deal with the alien problem they were going to be having since the Doctor was passed out, but this is ridiculous. The aliens aren't even going after the Time Lord anymore. They wanted the Humans. I promised I was going to help the Doctor, I figured by doing so he would return the favor to Krystan and me, but now I have to instead help the Human race, or my people may never exist!

Not what I signed up for!!!

Before Krystan and I could knock on the door of the house we had stayed at overnight, the door suddenly opened, and the two of us found us facing Jackie with some bags in her arms. Behind her was Mickey and Rose who were holding the Doctor in the air between them. We both blinked at them.

"Um, did we miss something?" I asked them.

"Yeah. We're going. So please step aside," Rose told us.

I furrowed my eyebrows at them. "Why?"

Rose sighed, but I could see tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. "The only safe place on Earth now is the TARDIS."

"You are running away?" Krystan asked surprised.

"We're not running away!" Rose snapped. "We're just going to hide in there until the Doctor either wakes up, or someone can come up with a plan because right now I don't have one!"

I stared at Rose in disbelief. "And if neither happens?"

"I don't know."

"Well, I do!" I exclaimed. "People are going to either die or be enslaved while we wait in the TARDIS twiddling our thumbs! How's hiding going to help anyone?!?"

Rose glowered at me, her tears close to rolling own her cheeks. "Stay here then! I have no clue what you want with the Doctor, but you don't have to come with us! Stay out here and figure something out yourself for all I care!"

My eyes changed to red from my anger, and all three of the Humans sucked in a breath. Damn. Left my contacts in the house. Whatever. I opened my mouth to retort back at her but stopped when Krystan's arm suddenly moved in front of my face.

"We will gladly accept your invitation to stay inside of the TARDIS," he told the Humans, his eyes as blood red as my own and not matching the sweet tone of his voice. "We will be down in just a minute."

I turned my glare on to Krystan but stepped out of the way with him to allow the three Humans and the unconscious Time Lord to move past. Once they entirely passed and were down the steps and out of earshot, I turned on my A.I.

"What the hell?!?" I snapped. "What was that, Krystan?!?"

"You know just as well as I do that the smart thing to do is to follow them into the TARDIS," he told me. "Even if the two of us could come up with a plan of some sort, there is no possible way that we would be able to follow through with it whatsoever. We are a Colorian and an A.I. with a broken ship." His hand pointed down at the Humans. "They may just be Humans, but they are still people. They have brains and physical forms and can help more than I ever could. We MUST stay by them. Together we can hopefully form a plan to deal with the Sycorax or figure out how to wake the Doctor up."

I glowered at him. "I hate it when you're right, you know that?"

"Yes. Now let us go after the Humans before they lock us out."

I sighed but followed Krystan down the steps and back to where we knew the TARDIS was located. When we reached it, the three Humans were just about to try and open one of the doors of the TARDIS. I awkwardly stayed back as Krystan moved closer to them.

Rose looked back at us, me more so, and glared. "Change your mind, have you?"

"Yes. She has," Krystan said back, his tone harsher than earlier. Rose blinked in surprise and looked over at him. "And we would be very thankful if you would allow us to also stay inside of the TARDIS."

Rose pursed her lips, but it was her mother who spoke. "Might as well let them, Rose. It's not like it'll do much harm."

Rose sighed and turned a glare to the door of the TARDIS she was trying to open. "Fine. Come over here and hold the Doctor for me then so I can get the door open for everyone."

I froze at that. Hold the Doctor? As in touching? Making more physical contact with the man? Nope. Not happening. Welp, guess Krystan, and I will have to go elsewhere.

I turned around to leave but jumped when I found Krystan standing directly in front of me with crossed arms. Without a word, he uncrossed his arms and pointed back in the direction of the three Humans and the TARDIS. I quickly shook my head, but he took a step closer to me, still pointing at them.

"I'm not touching him again," I hissed at him.

His eyes narrowed. "It will be for not even a minute. Just do it," he hissed back.

I glared, and together our eyes changed to blood red once more.

I could just leave, and he would be forced to follow me. Except doing that would result in an angry A.I. that I would have to deal with for who knows how long. I love Krystan, but I swear to the Goddess he was such a pain.

Why did they have to base him off me again?

I suddenly yelped when the E.T.L. let off an electrical shock through my body. I stared down at the device and then back up at Krystan. "What the hell was that?"

He smirked. "In all my twenty years with you, I have had no reason to do that. I am so happy that I finally get the chance." I yelped again when he gave me another shock. "Now turn around and go help."

"I'm not doing it, Krystan!"

His smirk widened. "Fine." The shock hit me again but worse than the other two times. And it didn't stop. It continued to shock my wrist. I had to bite my lip from crying out.

I held my ground though. I said I wasn't going to do something and by the Goddess, my A.I. was going to listen to me!

"Thanks for the help!" Rose called sarcastically at me. Krystan and I both blinked, the shock slowly going away as our eyes changed back to normal. I turned around and saw her watching us from the inside of the TARDIS.

Heh. Guess I don't have to touch the Doctor after all. A win in my book.

Krystan frowned and I gave him a triumphant look before walking towards the TARDIS. When I entered inside, I looked back to see how close Krystan was so I could shut the door, but he wasn't where I had been standing still or behind me. He must've gone back into the E.T.L.

Jerk. Making me deal with the Humans by myself.

The E.T.L. shocked me almost as if in reminder. I swore and rubbed at the skin around it. Krystan laughed back in my head.

I shut the door of the TARDIS and turned around to look at everything. My mouth immediately dropped. "Holy moly."

This place was seriously bigger on the inside, just like I had been told. It had to be at least the size of a small house, and this was only the main console room. In the center of the room was what looked to be the control system and surrounding it was some weird pillars. A metal ramp led from the door and up to the control system which was on a giant metal platform. The inside of the room was circular and was covered in gold metal plating, and weird round lights? Something like that. I don't know. Time Lord technology was terrific but honestly really weird at the same time.

Rose and Mickey were gathered around the control system with the Doctor laying down on the grating. I winced at how uncomfortable he was going to be in whenever he woke up.

If he woke up.

I shook my head. Can't think like that.

I glanced down at my jacket and sighed before slowing taking it off. It was pretty warm in here so I shouldn't get too cold with the orange 3/4 sleeve blouse I had on underneath, but I was going to have to try and stay away from the others with what little skin my arms will be showing now.

I moved over beside the Time Lord and placed my bunched up jacket under his head without touching him whatsoever. It was harder than I thought it would be. Once I had it under him comfortably, though, I moved to sit on the seat across from the console. I leaned back and awkwardly watched Mickey and Rose.

"No chance you could fly this thing?" Mickey asked the other.

"Not anymore, no," Rose told him.

"Well, you did it before."

"I know, but it's sorta been...wiped out of my head, like it's forbidden," she explained as her mum placed her bags down on the floor off to the side. "If I try it again, I think the universe rips in half."

My eyes widened at her when she didn't elaborate further on that statement. She drove the TARDIS before, but the knowledge had to be sucked from her head so the universe wasn't ripped in half...what the hell?!? What did she do to almost do that? And what type of ship was the TARDIS? Was it that dangerous?

"Ah, better not, then," Mickey said.

"Maybe not," Rose said as she leaned against the TARDIS's console.

"So, what do we do – just sit here?" he asked frustrated.

"That's as good as it gets."

"Right, here we go – nice cup of tea," Jackie then said. I looked back over from Rose towards her and saw her standing there with a thermos in her hands. I gave her a weird look. Humans were strange. The possible end of the world but it's okay as long as there's tea!

Apparently Rose thought the same thing. "Mm, the solution to everything," she muttered.

"Now, stop your moaning," Jackie angrily told her. "I'll get the rest of the food." She handed Mickey the black thermos and walked out of the time machine.

"Tea," Mickey said as he looked down at the thermos in his hands. "Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end, which is very British." I snorted at that. Seeing though that Mickey wasn't getting the response he wanted out of Rose, he turned to the television screen and asked, "How does this thing work? 'Cause if it picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there." He placed the thermos and its lid off to the side as he started to mess with the console screen. "Maybe we've surrendered. And what do you do to it?"

I rolled my eyes. If the people of Earth surrendered, then the future of the Human race is definitely screwed. So, hopefully, no one has done that.

Rose moved over beside him. "I don't know. It sort of tunes itself." She pressed a few buttons, making a beeping sound, and pulled back.

I stayed on the seat as I watched Mickey mess with the Television. Hopefully, they knew what they were doing. One thing I have always respected is not messing with another alien's ship. It's not right and who knows what you can accidentally do. To the ship or the occupants inside of the ship.

"Maybe it's a distress signal," I finally suggested when I saw him getting nowhere with it.

Rose looked bored with her elbow on the console and her chin relaxing on top of her palm. "Fat lot of good that's gonna do."

"Are you gonna be a misery all the time?" Mickey demanded.

"Yes," she told him point-blank.

"You should look at it from my point of view – stuck in here with your mum's cooking," he stated.

"Where is she?" Rose suddenly asked. Mickey shrugged. I grew confused. She had just left, and the TARDIS was a good bit away from their home. I'd be more surprised if she were back already. "I'd better give her a hand. It might start raining missiles out there." Rose maneuvered around the console and the Doctor and walked over to the TARDIS's doors.

"Tell her anything from a tin – that's fine," Mickey quickly shouted over at Rose. He grabbed the thermos and started to walk around the TARDIS's console and over to all the bags on the floor.

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" Rose asked.

"I'm not that brave," Mickey said with a grin.

Rose looked back over at Mickey when she was right in front of the doors. "Oh, I don't know." She then smiled as she opened the doors and started to step out.

Either those two were really good friends and can easily talk with one another, or they were outright flirting in front of me.

Not even a second after she left the TARDIS, we heard her let off a loud scream. Mickey dropped the thermos, spilling the tea, and rushed towards the door. I jumped to my feet in surprise.

"Rose?!?" Mickey worriedly shouted when he reached the door.

"Get off!" Rose exclaimed. "Get off me!"

I watched through the still opened TARDIS doors as she got dragged along by one of the Sycorax. I don't know how or why, but we were in the Sycorax spaceship. Did they pull us up? How would they even know to target us?

Mickey rushed after Rose when she suddenly shouted back at him, "The door – close the door!" Mickey and I immediately rushed towards the doors and together shut them, him pulling while I pushed.

I gasped and pressed my back against the door. What the hell were we going to do?!? I knew hiding wasn't going to help us! Now we had no plan and no way to get out of here!

"Get off!" I heard Rose shout.

"Leave her alone!" Mickey exclaimed.

I turned back around and pressed my ear against the door to continue listening to everything going on outside of the box. I couldn't see a single thing without opening the door, but I could still hear everything. Maybe I could figure out a plan as I listened.

"Yas vil!" one of the Sycorax yelled.

"Rose. Oh! Oh! Rose." I blinked at the new voice. Who was that? Another Human? How the bloody hell did she even get aboard the ship?!? There was then what sounded like a bit of scrambling before the other female told Rose, "I've got you! My lord. Oh, my precious thing. The Doctor – is he with you?"

And ironically it sounded as if the new voice knew both Rose AND the Doctor.

"No," Rose replied. I frowned. Yes, the Doctor was passed out on the floor, but he was here with us. Was she lying to protect him or did she absolutely believe that he won't be able to wake up and save the day? "We're on our own."

Behind me, I suddenly heard a bit of electricity crackling. I glanced behind me and saw some steam wafting out of the grated floor. I didn't think much of it at first until regeneration particles started to come forth from the Doctor's parted lips. My eyes widened. What the?

The next second Krystan emerged beside me. We shared a look before he dashed over to the Doctor. He knelt down beside the Time Lord's head and started to scan his entire body.

"What's going on with him, Krystan?" I asked him, torn between leaving the door and going to him and the Doctor. "Is he dying?!?"

Outside the door I could hear a Sycorax say something followed by a male speaking English, making it four Humans total on the Sycorax ship. "'The yellow girl – she has the clever blue box. Therefore, she speaks for your planet.'" It took me a moment to realize that the Human male was translating for the Sycorax.

Huh. Well, I'll give it to him. For a Human, he was pretty clever. Or at least the Human who made it possible to understand alien language is clever. Especially an alien that the Human has probably never met before.

I saw Krystan's mouth move to answer my question, but I raised a finger telling him to hold on a moment. I could hear more voices outside the door, and I wanted to listen to what was being said in the off chance it was important.

"But she can't," the new woman said.

"Yeah, I can," Rose told her.

"Don't you dare," Mickey warned her.

"Someone's got to be the Doctor."

I pulled away from the door and stared at it bewildered. "She's either really brave or really stupid," I muttered.

"Miss!"

I jolted at Krystan's voice. Rarely did he ever actually shout. I spun back around and looked over at him in surprise. He was actually glaring at me. Something important must be going on with the Doctor.

Whoops.

"What?"

Krystan sighed and finished his scanning, gesturing down at the Time Lord. "He is not dying, Miss."

Oh, thank Goddess. I rushed over beside him and knelt down on one leg. "Then what?"

Krystan gave a tiny smirk. "Quite the opposite in fact." I stared over at Krystan and then down at the Doctor. From between his parted lips came more regeneration energy. "He is actually getting better. Somehow, someway, he was given whatever it was he needed to recharge his internal battery so he can wake up."

I lowered my other leg, so I was on my knees and then leaned back on my hands. "But what was it?"

That's where Krystan frowned. "I am not sure. I can not tell what it was that is affecting him, just that SOMETHING is affecting him. If I can not figure out what it is, it must not be in my database."

I gave him a funny look. "That's odd. I thought you had practically everything."

He shrugged and placed a hand to his chin. "I guess not. Hmm." He looked like he wanted to say more after a moment, but laughter suddenly rang out around us.

I jumped to my feet. "That does not sound good." I darted back over to the door.

Pressing my ear back against the door I just caught the tail end of the Sycorax speaking followed by Translator Boy saying, "'You are very, very funny.'"

"What is happening?" Krystan asked.

"Someone got told they were funny. Maybe Rose? She was told earlier that she was the one who would be the Defender of Earth because they believe that the TARDIS belongs to her."

More Sycorax and then Translator Boy stating, "'And now you're going to die.'"

I gasped and stood up straighter. I started to smack the door. "No!"

I had to stop them! But what could I do? I still had no plan whatsoever. Sure I was hard to kill...but that didn't mean squat when you can't fight. And even if I could fight, I didn't have a weapon. I'd get taken down within seconds! I could always challenge the leader, but that loops right back to the fact that I can't fight!

If only I had a blaster. It's the only weapon I actually have been taught how to use. I wasn't amazing at it, but I at least knew how to aim and shoot.

I slumped against the door as I heard the other Humans out there shout numerous things at the Sycorax to leave Rose alone. I clenched my fists tightly and pounded them against my temples.

Goddess, I was useless! I can't do anything! I told them I could help, but so far I've done squat. Now the planet was going to get killed/enslaved, and I was either going to live in this box my entire life or join them, well if I don't disappear that is because of the new messed up timeline! I go and call Humans useless and here I was being the useless one. I'm so stupid!

My eyes burned as they changed colors. Tears then started to fall down my face.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid! Useless, useless, useless!" I whispered, pounding at my head with each word.

I was an impossible thing that should have just died along with her planet. At least then I wouldn't have had to deal with this mess in the first place.

"I do not mean to interrupt your unnecessary crying, Miss, but if you could look this way for just a moment..." Krystan said.

I harshly wiped at my face to rid it of the tears before opening my eyes. I turned back to my A.I and found him now standing on the other side of the Doctor. He glanced at me with brown eyes before looking back down to stare at something that I couldn't see from my position. I slowly stood up and stumbled over to his side. It was just the thermos that Mickey had dropped before running out of the TARDIS. I furrowed my eyebrows as I bent down to pick it up.

"What exactly is in that?" he asked, eyeing the thermos.

"Uh. Tea, I think. Why?"

Krystan grew quiet as he stared at the thermos and then down at the grating where the thermos had been located. He then put a finger to his lips in a shushing motion and pointed down. I immediately grew quiet.

Down below the grating, something was sizzling. Like, the noise that electrical equipment might make when splashed with water or a liquid of some sort. I slowly moved my eyesight on to the thermos in my hand. Like tea for instance. My eyes widened at the realization. Tea! Without missing a beat, I dove down beside the Doctor and let the remaining drops of the tea fall into his parted mouth. Once I knew it was all gone, I leaned back and dropped the thermos.

"If he wakes up from this, Krystan, then you better freaking scan the next cup of tea you see," I told him without looking at him. I then snorted and shook my head. "Can't believe you don't have tea in your freaking bloody database. I've been drinking it for how many years now while being forced to live in England?"

He huffed and crossed his arms. "Excuse me for not knowing that tea might one day save the world. Would you care for me to scan every drink you get then from now on? Perhaps that beer you had the other day? Or the apple juice from a week ago? Maybe I should be scanning food too just in case? That cake the other day just might be the savior of the universe, you know."

I cracked a small smile up at him. "Sure. Why not. Just means I get to eat and drink more, huh?"

He rolled his eyes back at me.

When I returned my vision back to the Time Lord, he abruptly sat up with no warning whatsoever. I yelped and scrambled back a few feet where I ended up phasing through Krystan. I shivered at the feeling.

"I guess tea actually saved the Earth after all," Krystan remarked softly to himself. "Who would have ever guessed? It really is the solution to everything."

"Ah, hello," the Doctor grinned at me. "Sorry to frighten you like that."

"It's...fine." I stared at him bewildered. I looked up at Krystan. "I honestly can't believe that worked."

"How'd you guess?" the Time Lord asked, cocking his head slightly.

"I, uh, I just put two and two together," I told him as he stood up. He stretched his arms above his head before turning his upper body one way then the other. I swallowed. "It wasn't sizzling down there before," I pointed down at where it had been sizzling under the grating, "so I figured it had started about the same time when the regeneration particles had begun to emerge from your mouth. Krystan showed me the knocked over thermos that had had tea in it, so I guess I kind of just went on an instinct?"

"Krystal, correct?" he asked with raised eyebrows. I slowly nodded, trying to ignore the fact that I told him twice earlier. The Doctor then eyed Krystan. Without warning, again, he reached a hand out and swiped it through Krystan, causing his form to flicker. Krystan narrowed his eyes at him as his image came back into focus. "Just like I thought. An A.I. Interesting."

"Some warning next time, please. I do not quite appreciate having hands shoved through me."

"An intelligent A.I." The Doctor looked impressed. "Even better."

Krystan looked like he wanted to say more but I jumped to my feet in front of him. "As lovely as this conversation is turning out to be, we really are in a bit of a pickle. The Sycorax are-"

He waved me off. "Oh, I know. I heard the two of you."

"You heard?" I gaped.

"I might've been out like a light but once the tea started kicking in and my senses were coming back, I heard what the two of you were saying with no problem." The Doctor made his way by Krystan and me and over to the door. We watched him in silence. "Oh, by the way, Krystal."

I eyed him curiously. "Yeah...?"

He looked over his shoulder with a serious expression. "You are not useless nor stupid." My eyes widened, and I froze. "You figured out it was tea that I needed, right? I'd say that was pretty useful and clever, eh?" With a wink, he then faced forward once more and threw open the doors. 

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes again as I stared at his backside.

"Miss?" Krystan murmured.

I swallowed and quickly brushed at my tears. "I'm fine," I whispered.

I barely knew the man. This Time Lord. This Doctor. Heh. Doctor. A name that actually does fit him. Most people would've ignored me. Ignore my words. Act like everything was fine. Hell, he wasn't too trustful of me earlier before he passed out. But he took just a few seconds, a few PRECIOUS SECONDS, to waste on me to say that I need to be more positive about myself when lives were at stake outside those TARDIS doors.

Does he always try to help people see their own potential? That if they decide to believe in themselves, good things can happen?

"The question is though, will you listen to his words?" Krystan asked.

I startled, not realizing that I must have asked that last bit out loud. I frowned down at the floor as we heard the Doctor cheekily ask everyone outside the TARDIS, "Did you miss me?"

I want to listen, but sometimes it does take more than just a few positive words and a friendly smile to help someone think better of themselves. I've had so many issues happen in my life that I'm not really sure if anything can make me actually feel better. I would hope, but it might honestly be too late for me. I know I'm terrible for even thinking the way I sometimes do, but it's hard not to. And it's even harder to stop.

But sometimes being told that you're a fantastic person makes things a little better every once in a blue moon. Even if just for a small period of time.

I gave a small smile at the Doctor's backside. "Perhaps a little bit, Krystan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, sorry for the lousy schedule. Between the holidays and how crazy work has been, it's been hard wanting to sit down and actually upload. I can be super lazy at times. But here it is! 
> 
> And in case I don't update before Christmas, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! And happy holidays to those that don't! 
> 
> And eye colors:
> 
> Brown - Fear, Startled, Worry, Anxiety, Distrust, Insecurity, Doubt, Nervousness
> 
> Orange - Embarrassment or Shame
> 
> Red - Anger, Indignation, Resentment, Annoyance, Dissatisfaction, Frustration
> 
> Electric Blue - Ecstasy


	5. Chapter #4: Britain's Golden Age

Krystan and I snapped our attention back to the Doctor when a loud roar sounded. My eyes widened as the Sycorax in front reached down and pulled from his waist an electrified whip. He brought his arm back and flung the end of the whip at the Doctor.

I started forward, ready to just do SOMETHING to protect this man since, you know, his life was more important than mine, but quickly halted after taking not even two steps. The Doctor had snatched the whip from the air before it could even hit him. He then casually yanked the whip out of the Sycorax’s hands and tossed it to the side.

The Doctor walked towards the Sycorax. “You could have someone’s eye out with that,” he told the alien in a serious voice.

“How dare-,” the Sycorax started to say while lifting up his staff. Without missing a beat, the Doctor took the staff from his hands and snapped it in half over his right knee.

Krystan and I walked out of the TARDIS together. We both at this rate were staring at the Time Lord like he had grown a second head. “Did he just…?”

“Yes,” Krystan nodded.

“But-“

“Uh huh.”

We were both at a loss for words. This man was absolutely bonkers. He was in a giant spaceship full of aliens that wanted to kill/enslave everyone in this room…and he just went and took the Sycorax’s staff, breaking it over his knee without a care in the world.

Bloody hell…no wonder this man was a savior of planets. He just dove in, uncaring of the consequences that could possibly follow.

After the Doctor threw the broken staff off to the side, he turned back to the Sycorax, who at this rate I was starting to believe was their chief with the way he was acting, and told him, “You just can’t get the staff. Now, you just wait. I’m busy.” The Sycorax chief gaped at the Doctor in surprise as the Time Lord pointed a finger at him and gave him a stern look. Like a parent would a child. The Doctor ignored him as he turned to Rose and Mickey with a wide smile. “Mickey, hello!” Next, he turned to another female, assumedly the one I heard earlier. “And Harriet Jones, M.P. for Flydale North. Blimey! It’s like This is Your Life.” The Doctor spun back to Rose and Mickey. “Tea! That’s all I needed – good cup of tea – a superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin – just the thing for healing the synapses.” He then suddenly turned serious as he locked eyes with Rose. His voice, which seemed to go higher in pitch when he was excited, went down a few octaves. “Now, first things first – be honest…how do I look?”

She blinked. “Um…different,” Rose told him.

“Good different or bad different?”

“Just different."

“Am I…ginger?” he asked in a serious tone.

What?

“Ginger?” Krystan tilted his head.

Rose looked up at the Doctor’s hair. “No, you’re just sort of brown,” she said as she brought a hand up to her own hair.

“Oh, I wanted to be ginger. I’ve never been ginger,” the Doctor whined, his voice going back up again. He turned back around and walked a few steps away from Rose and Mickey. He then suddenly spun back on his heel and pointed a finger at Rose. “And you, Rose Tyler – fat lot of good you were! You gave up on me. Ooh, that’s rude. Is that the sort of man I am now – am I rude? Rude and not ginger.”

I hid my face in my hands. “I can’t believe this is the conversation that’s happening when the entire planet is at risk,” I mumbled. “What is wrong with you?”

“I’m sorry,” Harriet said. The Doctor glanced over at her, and I peeked at her through my fingers. “Who is this?” she asked looking at the Doctor. She then looked at Krystan and me, causing her to do a quick double look from surprise. “And who are you two?”

I pulled my hands away as Krystan introduced us. “I am Krystan, and this is Miss Krystal.”

“Please don’t call me miss, though,” I quickly added. “Oh, and, uh, hi.” I awkwardly waved at her. 

“And I’m the Doctor,” the Time Lord told her.

“He’s the Doctor,” Rose said.

“Well, what happened to my Doctor, or is it a title that’s just passed on?” Harriet asked confused.

I’m going to take a guess that Harriet Jones must’ve met the Doctor while he was in a different Regeneration.

The Doctor walked over to Harriet. “I’m him. I’m literally him. Same man, new face – well, new everything,” he explained to her with a grin.

Precisely what I had been trying to explain to Rose.

“But you can’t be,” Harriet said.

“Harriet Jones…we were trapped in Downing Street, and the one thing that scared you wasn’t the aliens, wasn’t the war – it was the thought of your mother being on her own,” he said to her.

“Oh, my God.”

“Did you win the election?” The Doctor leaned in slightly towards her with his hands stuffed in the pockets of the dress robe he had on. His eyes shined with interest.

Harriet grinned back at him and said in a giddy voice, “Landslide majority.”

“If I might interrupt,” the Sycorax chief said loudly.

I sighed when everyone turned back to the chief, almost like they had all wholly forgotten that they were on a foreign alien ship full of said foreign aliens who could possibly kill them at any given second.

The Doctor straightened up and moved both of his hands behind his back. “Yes, sorry. Hello, big fella.”

“Who exactly are you?” the Sycorax chief demanded.

“Well, that’s the question.”

“I demand to know who you are!”

The Doctor imitated the chief’s loud roaring voice as he shouted back, “I don’t know!” His voice then switched back as he gained a thoughtful look on his face. “See, that’s the thing. I’m the Doctor, but beyond that, I-I just don’t know.” He stuffed his hands back in his pockets and continued to ramble. “I literally do not know who I am. It’s all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?” At the word sexy, the Time Lord winked at Rose and clicked his tongue causing her to smile back. I raised an eyebrow. That was interesting. Was there something going on between the two of them? “Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed, left-handed? A gambler, a fighter, a coward, a traitor? A liar, a nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence I’ve certainly got a gob.”

“Amen to that,” I muttered under my breath, referring to his gob. Apparently, though I hadn’t said it as softly as I thought I had for the Time Lord looked my way and gave another wink. My cheeks grew hot in response.

The Doctor gazed up the steps that he was now standing beside. Something up there must’ve caught his eye for he then looked back over at the chief with a broad smile. “And how am I gonna react when I see this-” his smile grew as he pointed up the steps, “a great big threatening button?” He laughed as he ran up the stairs and to the supposed button that he was referring to. The Sycorax chief, a few of his guards, and the four Humans ran after him. Krystan and I followed at a slower pace. “A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstances – am I right? Let me guess – it’s some sort of control matrix, hmm? Hold on. What’s feeding it?” He bent down and opened the panels beneath the button. “And what have we got here?” He stuck his finger into whatever it was that was under the button and then put it in his mouth. I scrunched my nose. “Definitely blood, Human blood - A-Positive, with just a dash of iron. Ah.” He grimaced as he stuck out his tongue at the taste. He quickly wiped off his finger on his blue dressing gown. “But that means…”

“Blood control,” Krystan and I said together.

“Blood control!” the Doctor repeated. He then looked over at us. All the Humans, specifically the original two we had met, stared at Krystan and me in surprise. “Wait, how did you two figure it out?”

“Krystan,” I replied, gesturing at him. I grinned at him and winked. “My amazing A.I.”

“You are too kind, Miss.”

“Not bad,” he told us before facing the Sycorax chief again. I saw a small grin appear on Krystan’s face at the compliment. “I haven’t seen blood control for years! You’re controlling all the A-Positives. Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem…,” the Time Lord said, clicking his tongue in disappointment. “‘Cause I really don’t know who I am. I don’t know when to stop. So if I see a great big threatening button, which should never, ever, ever be pressed, then I just want to do this,” and he slammed his hand down onto the huge orange button.

“No!” all the Humans shouted at him.

I glanced at them. Ohhh. Did they not know that blood control can’t force people to off themselves? Whoops. Guess I should’ve told them sooner. My bad. Might’ve made things a little less stressful. Not that Krystan and I really had the time to tell them though.

“You killed them!” Translator Boy exclaimed. Man, I really need to learn his name. I feel weird not knowing, and it has to be rude to refer to him as Translator Boy.

The Doctor looked over at the chief. “What do you think, big fella – are they dead?”

“We’ve allowed them to live,” the Sycorax chief told him.

“‘Allow?’” the Doctor repeated with a large grin. “You’ve no choice. See, that’s all blood control is – a cheap bit of voodoo,” he explained to the others while scratching his ear. Everyone’s eyes followed the Doctor as he started to walk back around the button. “It scares the pants off you, but that’s as far as it goes. It’s like hypnosis. You can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis. You can’t hypnotize them to death. The survival instinct’s too strong.”

“Blood control was just one form of conquest,” the chief told him. “I can summon the Armada and take this world by force.”

“Well, yeah, you could. Yeah, you could do that. Of course, you could, but why?” the Time Lord asked him. He gestured out to the four Humans. “Look at these people, these Human Beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and, blinking, step into the sun, there is more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than – no, hold on.” The Doctor broke off and looked down at the floor for a few seconds in thought. “Sorry,” he then said after a moment. “That’s The Lion King.” The Doctor moved away from the rock that he was leaning against and over to the side. “But the point still stands. Leave them alone.”

“Or what?” the chief asked back.

“Or…,” the Doctor grabbed a sword from the closest guard. He darted by the chief and back down the steps until he was standing in front of his TARDIS. He lifted the sword he held in the air and exclaimed, “I challenge you!” Automatically, every Sycorax in the ship started to laugh together at the Time Lord’s words. I facepalmed. The Doctor then gazed out at the hundreds of Sycorax that were all around us. “Oh, that struck a chord. Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?” he asked the chief.

The Sycorax chief walked down the stairs and pulled out his own blade. “You stand as this world’s champion.”

“Thank you,” the Doctor stated as he took off the dressing gown he wore. “I’ve no idea who I am, but you’ve just summed me up.” He then tossed his dressing gown over to Rose once it was off of him. She snatched it from the air and draped it over her arm. “So…do you accept my challenge?” he asked the Sycorax chief. “Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?”

The chief angrily hissed at the Doctor while Krystan snorted. I glanced over at him.

“What did he say?” I quietly asked him. The A.I. smirked and shook his head. I rolled my eyes in response.

Around us, the Sycorax cheered as their chief and the Time Lord raised their weapons in the air. The two of them then bent down onto one knee while locking eyes with the other.

“For the planet?” the Sycorax chief asked.

“For the planet,” the Doctor agreed.

Both rose back to their feet and stared the other down for a few seconds. Nobody moved nor spoke, except for the Sycorax who were still cheering. Finally, the Doctor made the first move. With a grunt, he lunged forward with his sword. The Chief brought up his own though and deflected the Doctor’s attack. The swords clanged loudly as they clashed together. Realizing that it was going nowhere, the Sycorax chief took a cheap shot and shoved the Doctor away from him. He then laughed at the Doctor as the Time Lord stumbled back. The Doctor gave a quick glance over at Rose and Mickey before returning his attention back to the chief. A second later the two of them grunted loudly, and they rushed at the other, their swords clanging once more as they bashed against the other.

Suddenly Rose reached out towards the Doctor and shouted, “Look out!”

The Doctor, who was on the ground dodging the Sycorax chief’s sword, jumped up to his feet and sarcastically said back at Rose, “Oh, yeah, that helps. I wouldn’t have thought of that otherwise. Thanks.” He then swung his sword at the chief again.

The fighting continued between them for a little bit more until the Sycorax chief went and pushed the Doctor again. The Doctor stumbled away like the previous time, but instead of rushing back at the leader, he forced his way up the steps.

“Bit of fresh air?” he asked. He pressed a button that was on the wall and darted out into the open air with the chief right on his heels. Everyone else quickly followed after him while Krystan and I remained where we were at.

“What the bloody hell just happened?” I asked, still trying to process everything.

Krystan laughed. “A fight, Miss. Were you not paying attention?”

I gave a sarcastic laugh. “Haha. Funny you are.”

He gave a teasing bow and a wink. “I do try my best.”

“Aah!”

Krystan and I gave each other startled looks and rushed towards the open wall. When we got outside and stood with the Humans, I sighed at the sight. Not sure what exactly had happened, but the Doctor looked okay. Other than having a hand pressed up against his nose.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rose start to rush forward towards him. “Whoa! Hey!” I jutted out a hand to try and stop her.

At the same time, the Doctor moved his hand from his face and towards her in a warning. “Stay back!” he told her. The Sycorax chief turned around and looked over at Rose to make sure she hadn’t tried and interfered. “Invalidate the challenge, and he wins the planet.” He then brought his hand back to his nose and rubbed harshly at it.

I slowly brought my own arm back to my body. I stared down at my hand. I had been so close to touching that girl just so I could stop her from interfering in the battle. Biting my lip, I awkwardly crossed my arms over my chest and stared at the ground.

I looked back up though a moment later when the Sycorax chief turned back to the Doctor with a roar. The Doctor shouted back in return as he ran at the alien and the two clashed swords again. They stayed together with their swords locked with the other’s, moving from where they were held over their heads to becoming situated between their chests. The chief then pulled back from the Doctor before charging once more at him. Their swords banged a few more times again until the chief suddenly was able to force the Doctor on to his knees with his sword.

I swore under my breath.

The chief banged his sword against the Doctor’s head, causing him to grunt as he fell backward onto his back with his head and hands hanging just over the edge of the ship. The Sycorax chief hurriedly moved forward and swung his sword down. I inhaled sharply when he aimed it at the Doctor’s hand. I just clenched my eyes shut to the scene before the chief cut the Doctor’s hand off from the rest of his body.

I pressed my arms closer to my body and bent over at the waist. I could feel the bile start to rise up through my throat and I did my best to swallow it back down.

Not gonna throw up. Not gonna throw up. Not gonna throw up.

“You cut my hand off,” the Doctor said in disbelief.

“Jah! Sycorax!” the chief shouted triumphantly, bringing both hands up to the air in success.

Krystan then said in an intrigued voice, “It stopped bleeding.”

“What?!?” I finally forced back all the bile and slowly opened my eyes. I blinked down at the ground before rising back up into a straighter position. My jaw dropped when I looked over at the Doctor. He was now back on his feet and facing the chief again. His hand nowhere to be seen…but no blood. At all. Do Time Lords not have blood?

I was too surprised at the non-bleeding Time Lord that I wasn’t even bothered by the fact that he was currently still missing a hand.

“And now I know what sort of man I am. I’m lucky…’cause, quite by chance, I’m still within the first 15 hours of my Regeneration Cycle, which means I’ve got just enough residual cellular energy to do this.” I gasped as he lifted up his arm that was handless and showed everyone as a brand new hand started to grow from the stump.

Krystan gaped at him beside me. He immediately brought his hands up together and then yanked them apart, revealing his holographic screen. He quickly started to type as he mumbled under his breath.

“Witchcraft,” the Sycorax chief said.

“Time Lord,” the Doctor corrected.

“Doctor!” I looked over at Rose who now had a sword in her hand. The Doctor turned his head towards her and caught the sword when she threw it at him.

“Oh, so I’m still the Doctor, then?” he asked amused.

“No arguments from me!” Rose shouted back with a smile. I rolled my eyes.

The Doctor began to swing his new sword around, showing off his new hand. “You want to know the best bit?” he asked the chief. “This new hand,” he started before gaining a Texan accent and a cocky grin, “it’s a-fightin' hand!”

The Doctor grunted as he lunged forward and swung his sword at the Sycorax chief who barely had time to block. Once again the two of them fought one another for several minutes until the Doctor was finally able to get the advantage that he needed. He yanked the Sycorax chief’s sword from the other’s grip and then bashed the base of the sword into the Sycorax’s stomach, eliciting a loud grunt from the chief. The Doctor repeated the action, and the Sycorax grunted again. With clenched teeth, the Time Lord knocked the Sycorax chief to the ground, so he was lying in the same position that the Doctor had been in earlier before he had lost his (now regained) hand.

The Doctor pointed the tip of his sword at the Sycorax’s throat. “I win.”

“Then kill me,” the chief told him between his pants for breath.

“I’ll spare your life if you’ll take this champion’s command – leave this planet and never return. What do you say?”

I raised an eyebrow at that. These aliens had been so close to wanting to kill/enslave the entire Human race, and he was willing to spare the chief? He’d be better off setting an example and killing the guy to prove that he will do anything as Earth’s champion to keep it safe.

“Yes,” the chief agreed.

The Doctor pressed his sword closer to the Sycorax’s neck. “Swear on the blood of your species.”

The Sycorax chief hesitated before agreeing in a strained voice. “I swear.” My eyebrow went even higher. Just like that and he was going to accept? Something didn’t feel right.

“There we are, then. Thanks for that,” the Doctor said as he casually turned back around as if nothing had happened. My jaw dropped. Wait. Seriously? That’s it?!? “Cheers, big fella.”

“Bravo!” Harriet cheered after the Doctor put his sword into the ground. She clapped as he walked towards us with a smile.

“That says it all – bravo!” Rose cheered along with a broad smile. She instantly moved to his side.

I tuned out the conversations going on around me as I turned to Krystan. He was still focused on the typing he was doing. “He’s just letting him go…just like that?”

“I saw,” Krystan said.

“Who the bloody hell does that?!?”

“Apparently he does, Miss.”

“But all he had the chief do was swear on his species!!!”

“Some aliens truly mean their oath when they swear like that.”

I glared at his ever moving hands and then at Krystan’s face. His eyes had yet to leave the screen to look over at me. I placed my hands on my hips and cleared my throat. What was he possibly doing that he couldn’t look away from it?

He hummed in acknowledgment, still not looking at me. Not even a quick glance from the corner of his eye.

“You’re gonna use up your energy if you keep that out,” I muttered.

Okay. Not really. Out of all the things Krystan could do, having his holographic screen out was not going to use up his energy. He’d have to keep it out all day for it to really take any sort of effect on him.

Finally, Krystan stopped his typing. But his eyes, which were ever so slightly widened, were still not looking at me. I furrowed my eyebrows and turned around just in time to watch the Time Lord, who was walking forward with Rose at his side, throw something round at a button on the wall. Behind him, the Sycorax chief, who had gotten up and was charging towards him with his sword in the air (knew he wouldn’t keep his end of the promise!), suddenly screamed as the ground beneath him disappeared, and he fell to his death to the planet below.

I turned my attention to the Time Lord who didn’t look too pleased. He wore a pretty intense gaze. “No second chances. I’m that sort of a man.”

I shivered and moved back from the Time Lord, so Krystan stood between him and me. Krystan finally glanced back at me over his shoulder. He blinked and tilted his head ever so slightly to the side in question. I immediately shook my head.

Krystan and I remained where we were as the Doctor went back inside. The Humans all scurried in after him.

Without a word, Krystan closed his screen. He then fully turned around to face me. “Are you all right, Miss?”

“Yeah, just…peachy.” His blue eyes narrowed, knowing that I was lying right through my teeth. “Seriously I’m fine, Krystan!” I snapped.

“Uh huh.”

“I mean it! He just surprised me is all,” I muttered. “I didn’t realize that a man called the Doctor could be…so…ruthless…”

“I knew something was the matter.”

“Shut up!” I then gestured towards his hands, ready to move on from the stupid conversation we were having. “What were you doing anyway that you couldn’t even take your eyes off of?”

He smirked back at me in return. “Collecting information.”

“On what?”

“The Doctor. Or, well, more specifically, Time Lords.” His smirk widened ever so. “There is not much information on Time Lords as you know. So, whatever little knowledge I can learn about the Time Lords the better, that way I can help update the system.”

I looked back towards the interior of the ship. “Is that so, huh? Do me a favor then.” I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. “Keep a character profile about the Doctor, please. All his quirks and actions and whatnot. It could help with your Time Lord information if we can compare it to any knowledge we learn of his past selves.”

And perhaps help me understand this crazy man a bit. How can you admire someone one moment and then secretly fear them the next?

“Are you two coming or are you just planning on staying on this ship?” I jumped, forced to exit my thoughts at the voice of the man himself. The Doctor frowned slightly and shook his head. “I went and made this big ol’ speech that we could’ve left after but no.” He sternly pointed his finger at us. “A certain Colorian and her A.I. couldn’t have followed us inside and been with the rest of the group when I made it. It was a pretty good speech too if I do say so myself. You might’ve enjoyed it.” He put his hands inside of his robe pockets and leaned against the doorway. “So, you done then? Good chat, yeah? Got all your thoughts out in the open?”

“Uh, yeah. We’re done,” I awkwardly told him. Krystan and I glanced at the other. The Doctor didn’t hear anything…right? I scratched the back of my neck and peered back at the man in question. “Sorry about that, I guess.”

He stood up straight again. “Good. Let’s get a move on then. I think we’ve overstayed our welcome a bit.”

I snorted as we followed him back inside. “You think so?”

He shrugged. “Eh. Just a hunch.”

We, well I, as I saw Krystan had decided to go back into the E.T.L. (“Can’t teleport with you if I'm outside of my watch,” he explained), trailed after the Time Lord towards the rest of the group. The four Humans probably weren’t going to say anything, but I noticed they were a bit on the closer side with their backs almost pressed against the TARDIS. I wonder if they were afraid any other Sycorax would go against their word too and kill them where they stood while they waited for the Time Lord to reappear. Whoops. That's our bad. The four Humans straightened, though, at the sight of the Doctor. I awkwardly stood beside him, scratching the back of my neck, and tried to look anywhere but at them. I was just starting to admire the roof of the ship when blue lights enveloped all of us, TARDIS included, and pulled us out of the ship. A few seconds later and I was now staring up at the blue sky and at the ship that we had just exited. I grinned, happy to be back on Earth. Honestly? I was just glad the Humans survived, and thus me, survived.

“Where are we?” Rose asked.

“We’re just off Bloxham Road,” Mickey explained. “We’re just ‘round the corner.” He then started to laugh and jump up and down with his hands in the air. “We did it!”

The Doctor held a hand out towards the overexcited boy. “Wait a minute. Wait a minute,” he told him, looking up at the ship.

Here it is. The moment of truth. Were the Sycorax going to go back on their word like their chief had done? Were we still going to become kill/enslaved to this awful race just for them to make an extra buck? For their own sick amusement? Did I think too soon that everything would be all fine and dandy?

I hadn’t realized it, but my eyes had clenched shut tightly. I instantly opened them though when I heard Mickey shout, “Go on, my son! Oh, yeah!”, and watched as the ship sailed through the sky and back up towards space.

“Bloody hell,” I whispered in shock. They really were leaving. The Time Lord grinned beside me.

Rose jumped onto Mickey’s back with her own smile as she shouted in excitement. “Yeah! Don’t come back!”

“It is defended!” Mickey yelled.

Rose ran over to Translator Boy (who I really needed a name for still). She hugged him and gave a loud, “Yeah!”

I jumped when the Doctor squeezed my shoulder in a comforting gesture before walking over to Harriet Jones, his hands now stuffed in his dressing gown’s pockets. I stared down at my shoulder where the Doctor’s hand had just been. He touched me…why did he touch me?!? Who gave him the right?!? I spun away, so my back was facing away from everyone, and swiped at my shoulder harshly.

Just gonna forget that happened. Not gonna get upset and ruin this joyous moment. Nope. Nu-uh.

“My Doctor,” I heard Harriet say.

“Prime Minister,” the Doctor said back to her. When I turned back to face everyone, I saw the two of them raise their arms and engulf the other in a tight hug.

“Absolutely the same man,” Harriet told him with a smile. The two of them then walked forward until the Doctor was standing beside me again. I automatically stepped away from him, hoping he didn’t notice. Harriet pointed up at the retreating spaceship and asked, “Are there many more out there?”

The Doctor breathed in deeply. “Ooh, not just Sycorax – hundreds of species, thousands of them.” He brought his hand back up and placed it once again on my shoulder with a small smile. I froze like a deer in the headlights. I bit my lip and shut my eyes. I was fine. Breathe, Krystal. Breathe. You were fine. You were perfect. Everything was just peachy. It's just your shoulder. Your blouse covered shoulder. “And the Human race is drawing attention to itself. Every day, you’re sending out probes and messages and signals. This planet’s so noisy. You’re getting noticed…more and more. You’d better get used to it.”

“Rose!” Jackie suddenly shouted.

“Mum!” Rose yelled back.

“Oh. Talking of trouble,” the Doctor said, his hand now starting to squeeze my shoulder a bit. My hands began to shake as they clenched and unclenched repeatedly.

My closed eyes clenched even tighter. In and out, Krystal. Just keep breathing. You’re fine. It’s okay. He’ll release you eventually. You can do this. You’ve been through much worse. Just relax and heed it no mind.

“Oh, my God!” Jackie yelled in relief. “Rose!”

“We did it, Mum!”

“Oh! Oh!”

“You did it, too!” Rose exclaimed to her mum. “It was the tea – fixed his head,” she explained.

Finally, the Time Lord released my shoulder. I shuddered in relief and cracked open an eye to watch him walk over towards the hugging Tylers with his hands in his pocket. “That was all I needed – cup of tea.”

I quickly and quietly started to walk away from them all. I just needed a moment to myself. Just...not even a moment. A second. A split second. When I was a good few feet away from them, I finally stopped walking. I stared down at the shoulder that the Doctor had been touching. I grimaced and shook as I looked at the spot, almost as if hoping the feeling he had left would just go away.

It didn’t happen of course.

‘Miss.’

‘Not now, Krystan.’

‘Is it really the time to worry about your ridiculous phobia,’ he continued, ignoring my warning tone.

‘Phobias are not ridiculous!’ I snapped at him. ‘ Of course you wouldn’t understand though. You’re just a hologram who has no emotions whatsoever and has to leech onto mine in order to experience any.’

‘Is that not what a Colorian is known for though? Leeching? Experiencing the emotions of others because of a bond of some sort?’

“Shut up!” I yelled at him. “You are not a Colorian so don't you dare think you can talk about them so easily! You are nothing but a hologram that is based off of my own genetics! You don’t understand what it’s like to be one so stop pretending that you do!”

I hadn’t realized, but at some point during my screaming, I had ended up bent at the waist and clenching my hair tightly between my fingers where I could yank out giant chunks of it if I desired. I sucked in a deep breath instead and slowly released my hair. My hands shook as I slid them into my jean pockets.

“Do you not think that sometimes I try to pretend to be a Colorian just for you?” I glared off to the side as Krystan appeared right in front of me. His mouth was set in a hard frown, and his eyes were grey to match mine. His voice grew quiet, and he moved even closer. “I know how much you miss your people. That is why I do what I can to fill that empty void in your chest. That is why I was created. Not only to help you in your journey but to also keep you happy and safe. Your real family might be dead, but did you and I not become close like real siblings? Because here I believed that was true. But if you feel differently, please tell me, and I promise to no longer act like one for you.”

I could feel tears begin to well up in my eyes but I just angrily wiped them away with the back of my hand.

“Is everything all right, Krystal?” the Doctor asked with concern, his hand once more coming to rest upon my shoulder.

“Don’t touch me!” I screamed at him, turning around so his hand was forced to be ripped off my shoulder. My eyes burned as they changed to who knows what color. I scrambled back away from the Time Lord who blinked at me as he quickly brought his hand back to his person in surprise. I immediately wished I was still wearing my jacket so I could have thrown up the hoodie over my head. Instead, I spun around as I felt my lower lip start to tremble and more tears fall down my face. “Sorry,” I whispered, instead choosing to re-clench at my hair.

Krystan stepped between the Doctor and me. “Please forgive Miss Krystal. Due to circumstances from her past, she can not tolerate any sort of physical contact, and because she and I were arguing just now, thus making her even more unstable and unable to control herself, she did not mean to blow up in your face. Correct, Miss?”

I didn't say anything. I just quickly nodded.

“I apologize for putting you in that predicament at all then,” the Doctor told me softly. He moved slowly like one would to a wounded animal so as not to frighten them until he stood in my field of vision. He gave a small smile. “Guess new me doesn’t think much before he acts.” He then looked thoughtful. “Actually, I don’t think I ever really did that much at all honesty.” I softly snorted as the corner of my lip twitched. His grin widened a smidge when he saw it. “There we go. I see that smile you’re trying to hide from me.”

“It’s a message from Torchwood,” Translator Boy said aloud. The Time Lord turned his gaze from me to look over at him. “They say they’re ready.”

“Tell them to fire,” Harriet told Translator Boy, her voice breaking as she did so.

“Fire?” I muttered with furrowed eyebrows. I wiped at my eyes, released my hair, and stood up straight myself to look over at the two Humans. “At what?”

Krystan’s eyes were narrowed. “At whom?”

“Fire at will.” Translator Boy walked off to the side so he could use his communicator in private.

“What does he mean ‘Fire at will’? What the bloody hell are you doing?!?” I angrily demanded.

Harriet didn’t answer me when five green lights in different locations suddenly shot into the air, all aimed at the same spot. The lights combined together and then shot up into the sky. A moment later an explosion sounded from the sky and pieces of something dispersed through the air.

Rose gasped. “What is that? What’s happening?”

She, her mum, and Mickey gazed up at the sky. The Doctor himself looked back down from where he had already been staring at the sky and frowned over at Harriet and Translator Boy. Harriet stared back at the Doctor with unwavering eyes.

“That was murder,” the Doctor angrily told her.

“That was defense,” Harriet answered calmly.

It took me a few moments before it clicked. I stared in shock at the Prime Minister. I was at a loss for words. They killed those Sycorax without an ounce of hesitation. They couldn’t even do it to their face. The Humans waited until the Sycorax’s back was turned and then opened fire, knowing that the aliens could do nothing back at them.

Harriet glanced away for a second before returning her gaze to the Doctor. “It’s adapted from alien technology – a ship that fell to Earth 10 years ago.”

“But they were leaving!” the Doctor told her.

“You said so yourself, Doctor, they’d go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I’m sorry, Doctor, but you’re not here all the time – you come and go. It happened today – Mr. Llewellyn and the Major, they were murdered. They died right in front of me, while you were sleeping. In which case, we have to defend ourselves.”

“Britain’s Golden Age."

“It comes with a price."

“I gave them the wrong warning. I should have told them to run as fast as they can – run and hide because the monsters are coming – the Human race,” the Doctor spat.

“Those are the people I represent,” Harriet said, beginning to turn just as angry as the Doctor. “I did it on their behalf.”

“And I should have stopped you."

“What does that make you, Doctor – another alien threat?”

“Don’t challenge me, Harriet Jones,” the Doctor stated as he marched forward towards her. “Cause I’m a completely new man! I could bring down your government with a single word."

“You’re the most remarkable man I’ve ever met, but I don’t think you’re quite capable of that,” Harriet told him.

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed slightly more. “No, you’re right – not a single word…just six.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Six words.”

“Stop it.”

“Six.”

The Doctor and Harriet stared at the other for a couple of moments. Finally, the Doctor calmly walked around her and over to Translator Boy. He took Translator Boy’s earpiece from his ear and placed it in the Human’s hand. With his eyes still on Harriet, he said something to Translator Boy, soft enough that none of us were able to hear what he was saying. The Time Lord then walked around Translator Boy and back over to the rest of us, giving Harriet Jones a hard look as he passed by her. The three other Humans trailed behind him as he started to walk in the direction of the Tyler residence.

Harriet scrambled over to Translator Boy and asked, “What did he say?”

“Oh, well, nothing, really. He-”

“What did he say?!?”

“I-I – nothing. I don’t know.”

“Doctor! Doctor, what did you -, ” Harriet exclaimed at him as they walked away. “What was – what did he say? What did you say, Doctor? Doctor!”

Krystan stepped up to Harriet with a hard glare. “Miss Jones, I hope you realize that no matter what you try to do, Earth will always be targeted by aliens. There is absolutely nothing you can do that will stop them from either seeking peace with your world or trying to invade it for their own selfish greed. What I can tell you though is that by preparing yourself for any possible alien invasion and then showing off what you can do in the case of one may very well just be your own downfall.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is-”

“Be careful,” I quietly told her. “Else you might start a war that you can’t finish. Some aliens may start to see you as a threat and leave you be, while others will see you as an opponent that needs to be taken down a peg or two. Perhaps even all the way. The louder you get, the more notice you will receive.” I sighed and glanced at Krystan before walking after everyone else. “Come on, Krystan. Better catch up before they leave us behind or something.”

“You think after everything that just happened they will go and leave us behind?”

I shrugged. “Perhaps. That Rose doesn’t seem too thrilled to be around me now, and I’m definitely not sure where the Doctor’s thoughts are when it comes to the two of us.”

“Two? I think you mean when it comes to you,” he teased. "You are the one who was putting on a show."

“Shut up.”

"Wait." I paused in my walking and looked back at him. He was staring straight into my eyes. "About earlier...I meant what I said. If you wish for me to stop acting so casually with you, I will. You just need to tell me."

I slowly shook my head. "I won't ask that of you. As much as you irritate me at times, and bother me with the way you act and look, you're right when it comes to saying that you and I are basically family. We're all the other's got in this big old universe. I think I'd be lost without you by my side, acting the way you do." I sighed as a tear dripped off my face. Great. I was crying. Again. "I honestly can say I would've gone insane if I didn't have you, or if you would've acted like your typical run-of-the-mill A.I. So, thank you for being you. Me? Colorian? I don't know."

"And you are positive that is what you want? You are not just saying that because you do not wish to offend me?"

I cracked a small grin before turning back around. "Yeah. I mean it. Try not to take everything I say to heart in the future, especially when I'm on the verge of having a mental breakdown. You know me. I don't always mean what I say."

As I started to walk away from him, I just barely heard him mutter to himself, "You do not always say what you mean either," before he disappeared back into the E.T.L.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys wanna know how hard the beginning of this chapter was? Ugh. It was horrible. The Doctor really does have a gob, lol. He just keeps going on, and on, and on. It was so difficult trying to find places to let Krystal or Krystan actually speak without interrupting the flow of the chapter. And don't get me started on that fight scene. Oh boy was I cringing while writing that. Fight scenes are hard to make sound exciting, let me tell you. 
> 
> Other than that I think this chapter went well. Without being too over the top with the bit at the end, I really wanted to show that Krystal does have some issues going on and not only does Krystan know this, but the Doctor will start seeing it too. Which starting next chapter with some original stuff, we will begin to dive a little bit into what happened to Krystal and why exactly she came searching for the Doctor. So, until next time. Perhaps tonight if I have time to edit the chapter up.


	6. Chapter #5: Hopeless

I sighed as I neared the Tylers' residence. I just knew that everyone had questions for me, but more specifically though was probably the Doctor. Of course, I also knew that I was going to have to answer said questions if I still wanted any chance of obtaining his help. So honestly, it shouldn't have been as big of a surprise to see the Doctor sitting at the top of the steps. The Time Lord had had his eyes closed, and his head was tilted downwards, but at my squeak of surprise he jolted upright and stared down at me. I awkwardly smiled and waved up at him.

"Hey," I murmured. "How's it going?"

The Doctor gave me a small smile and stood up, stretching his arms over his head. "Took you long enough. Thought I was going to have to send a search party out for you."

I glanced at the step below him to break eye contact. "That should flatter me byyou caring so much to do that at all, but considering that it's your fault for walking off without Krystan and me, I'm not."

'What?' Krystan laughed.

I flushed. 'Shut up!'

The Doctor snorted. "Did you know you make the most ridiculous faces when you two communicate like that?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "How did you know we were talking with one another?"

He winked. "I didn't. I've just seen enough people make those faces when they communicate using their minds that I took a guess."

'Good guess,' Krystan mumbled.

I shook my head. "Whatever." I then gestured towards the Time Lord. "What were you doing just sitting there? You surprised me."

The Doctor stood up and brushed off his robe. "Waiting on you, like I said."

"But why?" I asked as he made his way down to me. "How were you so sure that I was actually following you at all?"

"You said you needed me, right?"

"That still didn't mean I was following you, though. I could've run off after what happened earlier."

The Doctor stopped once he was on the step right before me, causing my eyesight to stare at his chest before I quickly brought them up and locked eyes. He grinned at me and threw his hands in the pockets of his robe as he leaned in towards me."Oh, I knew you'd follow us back. If you were so desperate to remain with Rose and her family through all this then why would you run away now? I can see it in your eyes. Something happened to you. Something that has filled you to the brink with determination. Something that you know would haunt you for the rest of your life if you ran away from this."

I swallowed and glanced away. "It's nice to know someone I barely know can read me so well."

The Doctor frowned, probably because that wasn't the response he had been hoping for, and stood up straight again. He grew thoughtful for a few moments before grinning once more."Would you care to take a walk?" he asked.

I grimaced. Another walk? But we just got here! "Why?" I asked instead.

"I wish to learn more about you," he told me truthfully. I stared at him in shock. "A Colorian in the twenty-first century isn't something you expect to see, and I would love to learn the story behind it."

"I mean...sure, I guess," I murmured. I then looked behind him at Rose who had suddenly appeared at the top of the staircase. She watched us in confusion and ever so slight irritation. I swallowed. "What about the Humans?"

"Rose and her family," the Doctor started loudly as he stared me down. I could tell he wasn't too pleased that I just called them Humans, "will be fine. I just want to chat with you in private. They won't even notice we're gone." I'm not even sure if the Doctor noticed that Rose had been up there or not, but I saw Rose roll her eyes and walk back to her apartment. "Besides," I snapped my eyes back at the Time Lord as he spoke, "I think it's only fair you tell me everything that's happened, considering you wanted my help and all." I grimaced but held my tongue. "Sounds good to me. A story for some help."

I sighed. "And where were you thinking of going to?"

"Wherever you want. I'm not picky."

"Then I know the exact place to hold this conversation. One of the many factors as to why I'm stuck here on Earth."

___***___

"And viola. Here it is. My ship." I gestured outwards towards my ship with a small smile.

Besides Krystan or my choker, it was my one bit of Colorian I had left.The Doctor's eyes furrowed as he looked around the area. It hadn't been too long of a walk, ten minutes tops I'd guess which was super ironic, but now we were currently standing in the middle of an alley with giant apartment buildings on both sides of us and a big old dumpster bin before us.

The Doctor looked at everything before pointing ahead at my ship with a confused look."Either your ship is a dumpster, or it has some sort of perception filter on it."

I smacked the hand, that had been gesturing out, against my forehead. "Why would my ship be a dumpster? Are you trying to call me trash?" I muttered under my breath. I pulled my hand away and glared up at him. "It's a perception filter, genius. Made it easy to hide my ship from the Humans and all." I moved towards the ship and pressed my hand against the scanner. It glowed green as it scanned my hand before beeping, telling me that I was allowed access. The door beside the scanner than slid open. I gestured inside with my head. "Follow me."

Krystan appeared inside of the ship with a snort. "Yes, Doctor. Please enter our dumpster. Become one with the trash with us."

I glared daggers at him. "Please ignore him. He thinks he's so funny, but he's not."I entered the ship with the Time Lord right on my heels. Immediately once we were both inside of the ship, the door slid back shut and the lights in the ship clicked on before we could be left in the darkness for too long. I gave a small smile and made my way towards the small cot by the wall where I then proceeded to flop backward on it. I held my arms above my head and waved my hands a bit. "Welcome to my humble abode. Please, take a seat and get comfortable." I then snapped my fingers, and soft pop music played through the speakers hanging up above my cot.

"Nice, uh, place you got here," the Doctor said as he glanced around at my mess of a ship. I had clothes strewn everywhere from the last time I had been in my ship. I had been unable to find a pair of gloves, so I had ended up tossing clothes all over until I had finally found some. I just hadn't had the time to pick it back up. The Doctor took a seat on the blue sofa across from my cot and near the control panel, the one place that was actually free of clothes. His eyes roamed over all of the buttons and controls on the panel. He gently reached out a hand and ran a few fingers delicately over them as he studied it. "Your ship time travels, doesn't it? That's why you wound up on twenty-first century Earth. Bit of an odd choice you made to wanna come here, though."

I glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. I could say the same thing to you, bucko.

The Time Lord's eyes landed on me as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Any specific reasoning?"

"I'm here because it wasn't my first choice." I rolled over on to my side and closed my eyes, so I didn't have to see the look on his face. "It wasn't any of my top choices whatsoever." I felt for my one pillow on the cot and snuggled against it, my body curving into a tight ball. "Granted it wasn't really my choice to even leave my planet at all. I'm not a traveler. Well, I wasn't," I muttered.

"Krystal, why are you here? " the Doctor asked softly. "What was the purpose in seeking me out? Why do you need my assistance?"

"I wanted your help in returning home," I told him. "My ship crashed when coming here. It can still travel to different places, but I can't travel through time anymore, and it had to be Earth. I'm stuck in this time period and this planet. I just want to go home."

"But why are you here to begin with? I can't help you if I don't know what's going on."

I grinned to myself. "Would you believe me if I said I stole this ship?"

"No."

"Really? How could you tell I was bluffing then?"

"Because I know what it's like to steal a ship."

My eyes snapped open at that, and I stared over at the Doctor to see his face. His own eyes were closed, and he had his head tilted back, so it was pressed against the couch. I couldn't read the expression on his face. "You stole a ship?"

"Yep," he popped the p. He opened his eyes and peered over at me with a smirk. "So you wanna tell me the truth than on why you got stuck here in this ship?"

Before I could answer, Krystan moved from where he still stood by the door. I honestly had forgotten about him for a moment there. "Yes," he instantly said. He then looked over at me. "Sorry, but he deserves the right to know why you require his help, Miss. It can not be kept a secret."

I sighed softly and sat up, rubbing at my face. "Yeah...I know. I wasn't trying to keep it a secret...I just...it's not something easy to talk about." I sat back, so my backside was against the wall and held the pillow to my chest. "Okay. Here goes then." I locked eyes with the Time Lord for a few seconds before lowering them to stare at his chest. "I'm only going to say all of this once, so you better be all ears, okay?"

The Doctor nodded. He leaned forward so his arms rested on his knees and he could put all of his attention on to me. Krystanblipped and reappeared "on" the couch.

"Basics first, I'd say." I softly cleared my throat and gestured towards myself. "My name is Krystal. Hello." I gave a two finger salute. "I am a Colorian from Chroma who is out of her time period by about six billion years give or take. I was born in the year six billion and eighty-two and when I turned twenty-three...things took a turn for the worse on my planet."

"You mean the Spread of the Hopeless, don't you?" he asked, understanding coming to his features.

I blinked, completely caught off guard. "Hopeless?"

He nodded. "The name that was given to the plague that destroyed Chroma."

I winced. Hopefully, he was just being dramatic using the word 'destroyed'.

"The term Hopeless was given for two reasons." The Doctor brought a hand up and raised a finger for each reason. "Reason one was because of what the plague did. It made most of the Colorians believe that there was absolutely nothing that could be done and this made them lose all hope in surviving. Reason two can either be considered as cruel irony or just a horrible joke. Some said that because Hope, the first ever Colorian, was what made the Colorians a race, that it's only fitting that being Hopeless is what caused the Colorians to perish."

I gaped at him. Even Krystan stared with slightly widened eyes.

It took a few moments before I could get my mouth to move. "That's terrible! Who would come up with a name like that?!?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure. It's just one of those things that someone said it and everyone else went with it."

I shuddered. It wasn't an entirely inaccurate name, forgoing the founder of our people thing of course. But people did lose hope when our planet got hit with that stupid plague. With how fast it was spreading and the fact that our top scientists couldn't even find a cure, it really did become hard to look on the bright side of things.

Krystan lightly cleared his throat. I looked up at him and saw his grey eyes. I blinked and quickly glanced down at my lap so the Doctor couldn't see my own grey orbs. Not that it really mattered since he knew what the choker around my neck was for and could just read my emotion that way.

"Um, anyway," I softly continued, "the plague. It, uh, well it probably had taken away half of the population, animals included, in a year. The disease spread so rapidly that one day you could be as healthy as they come and the next on the brink of death. Because of this, the whole planet was forced to take precautions to do what they could to keep the healthy people as alive as possible. That's where the quarantine came into play. The leaders of the planet decided that the central city, the place where I actually lived, was to become a quarantine zone. If you were sick, you were to report to the city immediately so you could be kept away from the healthy people until either a cure was found or you died. And for the people like me who lived in the city, we were given a chance to pack up and move in which we were given a small sum of money to keep us going until we figured out a plan, or remain in the city if desired and risk getting sick faster."

"So you got out of the quarantine and escaped?" the Doctor asked. His eyebrows furrowed a little as he tried to figure out the pieces to my puzzle. "You obviously didn't catch the disease else you'd be dead, or the entire population of Earth would have caught your disease."

I brought up a hand and waved it side-to-side. "Yes and no. I did escape my planet, obviously, but it wasn't by choice in the end. And not once did I ever leave the quarantine zone."

"Choice?"

"Nearing the end of the first year of the...Hopeless, our scientists were desperate for anything they could do to obtain a cure. Result? Testing whatever they made on actual people. Hey! Don't give me that look. It wasn't against anyone's will...at least in the beginning," I told him when I saw the slight angry expression cross his face. "Originally the scientists had tried on dead bodies, but nothing worked. Then they tried on those that had been infected, still nothing. And as the numbers dwindled, they decided to try the healthy people. I think it was something to do with the fact that even though we lived in quarantine, we still hadn't been infected yet, so the scientists wanted to try and figure out what made us stronger than the others."

"What do you mean then that there was no testing against anyone's will but only in the beginning?"

I sighed. Here it comes. The hard part. "When things weren't getting better, people became desperate for results. The scientists soon started not to care what they did to people as long as they got the desired effect that they wanted. Some just wanted to save the race before we all perished, others wanted the glory of being the savior of us all."

I glanced over at the Time Lord and saw his hands clenching at his pajama pants tightly, his knuckles as white as paper. I quickly continued before he interrupted again from anger.

"So, for me personally, the only reason I even joined was because of my sister-in-law. My parents had been dead for a while, and both of my twin brothers had passed away from the...Hopeless. But, uh, she had mentioned it to me that she was planning on volunteering. Zarya's mum was currently infected, and after losing my brother to the plague, she wanted to try and help find a cure before she lost her as well. I then decided to hell with it and joined too." I clenched my eyes shut when I felt tears begin to slide down my face. "She lasted a week before dying from an experiment. One moment she was fine from the injection she was given, the next her body was all over the lab. She had exploded." I started to shake from the image now in my head, and I quickly tried to get it out before I threw up.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said to me. I noticed he had stood up and had a hand awkwardly hanging in the air. After a moment he sat back down and frowned. "I can't imagine what that could've done to you."

"A lot. It did a lot," I quietly answered. I reached up a hand and lightly gripped at the collar around my neck. "Let's just say that after that is when people were forced to be experimented on. Nobody wanted to stay after they saw Zarya's side effect to her injection. A few actually ended up committing suicide because of it. None of us wanted to die, but no one wanted to die like she had. And others did die like Zarya did. Or their insides melted. Or their lungs stopped working and they were forced to suffocate. And the worse part I think? The rest of us had to watch every single injection happen and couldn't do a single thing to stop it.

"I'm actually not sure why I never was chosen earlier in the injections. Maybe they picked names out of a hat? I have no idea. Soon months passed and it was just me and three others. Our scientists had also dwindled down from about fifty or so to seven tops. A lot of them had died from the Hopeless, but even now I'm positive that some of them had been forced to take an injection, specifically if any arguments occurred where one wouldn't agree with the others, or one wanted out of working. Anyway, like I said, it was me and three others 'volunteers'. One day I ended up getting into an argument with one of them. Can't remember for the life of me what it was about, but I do remember that it was so stupid. So, so stupid. It came from pent-up frustration and stress from our toxic environment and the fact that our personalities just clashed with one another. One moment we were yelling at each other and then I remember that she pushed me, causing me to go unconscious. I was later told that I had been knocked back into a cart of chemicals that a scientist had been pushing by. When I woke up, though, I became as the scientists labeled me as 'impossible'."

The Doctor suddenly leaned forward. His eyes intently staring into mine and his hands gripping at his pants again. "What do you mean?"

"When I woke up several days later, I was told that every single injury that I had obtained had just closed on itself and my skin turned right back to how it had been before. Of course, once I was back on my feet again, more experiments were done on me to find out all that my body could now do. The result? I have a healing factor now. My body heals all wounds and can regrow body parts as good as new. I can also fight off infections and colds reasonably easily. So of course with this newfound knowledge, the next thing the scientists did was inject me with the blood of a Colorian who had died of the Hopeless. Surprise, surprise...I survived. They then injected me with one of the same injections that had killed one of the other 'volunteers'. Nothing. It did absolutely nothing to me. They soon looked at me like I was the Goddess.

"A few more months soon went by with the scientists trying and failing to make others like me. I actually spent my twenty-fourth birthday in that prison. Nobody cared, of course. It didn't really mean anything to anyone except me. Especially when they couldn't get the others to become like me. I soon went from being the Goddess they adored to one they loathed." I awkwardly laughed at the irony of the situation. "Next thing I know it's just three scientists and me. They kept me locked in my room, unable to escape for fear that they would lose their only chance of surviving. Until one day, one of them came for me like he usually did to take me to the injection room. Instead, though, he led me outside, a place I hadn't seen in ages by the way, and showed me this ship. After all of the experimenting he had helped the others do to me, he had finally remembered that he had a heart, I suppose. Anyway, he told me to get the hell out of this place and try and save our species, not that he would be surprised if I didn't want to after what happened. He then gave me Krystan, apologizing that due to him doing this last minute for me that that was why Krystan resembled me in appearance and personality, then shoved me inside of the ship before we got caught. So I left, just like he told me to. I just hope the scientist escaped before the others found him."

An awkward silence filled the air then. I glanced over at the Time Lord and saw his eyes were closed and his hands were gripping at his hair. Krystan was staring at him in confusion. I looked away again and rubbed at my face. I didn't realize he'd get so caught up in my terrible story. I turned back to him though when he finally spoke.

"I assume your ship malfunctioned then," the Doctor stated. He released his hair and rose to his feet. He made his way back over to the control panel and ran his fingers once more over the surface.

"Bingo," I clicked my tongue at him. I wiped at my face again to rid it of all of the tears. "Tried to go to New New York and ended up here in actual New York. Then found out that I could travel from place to place, granted only on Earth, but could not travel in time anymore. Load of junk," I muttered, bringing a hand and smacking a fist against the wall behind me. I immediately regretted it of course when pain shot up my arm. I swore and started to shake my hand to help ease it. "Twenty years later and I'm still stuck here trying to figure out a way off this damn planet."

"And of those twenty years Miss Krystal has been searching for you for five now," Krystan added.

I nodded. "Yeah. After we learned about you and realized we didn't have many other options, we were basically searching high and low for you...hoping for that chance to meet you and ask for your help."

"Help as in what exactly?" the Doctor murmured. He ran his fingers lightly over more controls and then the chair situated before the controls. "You wish for me to take you back to your dead planet?"

I stared wide-eyed at him. He thought I wanted what?

"What I wish is for you to save my people!" I exclaimed. "Did you not hear what was asked of me?!?" I jumped to my feet and marched over to the Time Lord. "You could come back with me to my planet and help figure out a cure to save everyone! You're a Time Lord! The Doctor! The smartest alien that I know! We can stop the plague before it even happens! Can you please help me?" When he didn't respond after a few moments, I added softly, "Please?"

Finally, he started to slowly shake his head. He then turned to look down at me. "I can't, Krystal. The Spread of the Hopeless is a fixed point in time. It can't be changed. If I go back with you and try to help, I could just be making something even worse happen. Fixed points cannot be changed whatsoever."

"But...but my people..." I whispered. "I'm supposed to save them. I was asked to save them. I need to save them! I don't want to be alone anymore..."

The Time Lord lifted a hand, about ready to place it on my shoulder, but he quickly lowered it when he saw me flinch. "I'm sorry, Krystal. I can't help you. There's nothing that can be done."

More tears started to fall down my cheeks. I angrily wiped at them. "All these years! ALL THESE YEARS!" I screamed at him, my eyes burning harshly. The Time Lord winced but otherwise stayed silent. I took in a shuddering breath and closed my eyes, pressing my palms against my closed lids. I dropped to my knees, not caring about the pain that I caused myself from smacking against the ship's floor.

"Nothing at all?" I heard Krystan murmur.

"The most I can do is take you back to your planet, after the fixed point in time," he said. "Anything else could make things a whole lot more complicated. It might not be much, but perhaps you can give your goodbyes to the planet before it gets blown up."

"What?!?" I exclaimed, looking up at him.

"Blown up?" Krystan asked in surprise.

He winced. "Yeah. Sorry. Should've worded that a bit better. Even once the Hopeless is gone, and the planet is safe again...it's decided upon to blow the planet up for everyone's safety. Just in case. As a precaution. It's seen as a large funeral for the Colorians as well."

"Is that a fixed point too?" Krystan asked. The Doctor remained silent as he glanced at him and then returned his attention back to me. "Thought so." He turned to me. "Miss, I think you should accept this man's offer," he told me.

I stared at him in shock. Why was he so accepting of this? I slowly started to shake my head. "No."

Krystan grew frustrated. "Miss, you know the best option is to say our farewell to the planet and then asked to be dropped off somewhere else. It is a much better plan compared to us remaining on Earth, wasting away as you try and one day fail to keep your Colorian identity a secret from the Humans."

Our grey eyes changed to red. "I said no!" I exclaimed. "I refuse to accept that there is nothing that can be done to help our planet!" I pointed a finger at the Doctor in rage. "If he refuses to help then we'll just have to find someone else who will! It might take hundreds and hundreds of years, but if we keep searching every single bloody day, eventually we'll find someone else who can time travel and help us save Chroma!"

Krystan snarled. "You absolute idiot!" His hand came up like he was going to slap me and then it phased through my face. My heart stopped as I stared at Krystan with wide eyes. "What are the damn chances that we would even find another time traveler? Huh?!? I have done the numbers, Miss, and it is very, very slim."

This was the angriest I had ever seen Krystan. His chest was heaving out of pure rage, and his eyes were almost narrowed into small slits. I swallowed and moved backward, but Krystan followed every step until my back pressed up against the side of the ship.

"And even if we found by chance another time traveler, do you not think that they will tell us the same thing as the Doctor? Must we really try and tamper with time, something that we have no information about just so we can save people who the Goddess had decided was their time to die? What if trying to save them instead make things worse? What if we kill millions of other innocent lives just to possibly save them? You wish for that on your conscious? To be a murderer?!?" I felt more tears begin to fall down my face as I shook my head, refusing to make eye contact with him.

Just as Krystanwas about to continue attacking me with guilt, the Doctor moved between us. I stared at his back in confusion. "I think she gets the point," he told Krystan. I peeked around the Time Lord at the A.I. and winced at his still present glare. The next second he disappeared out of sight and back into his E.T.L. The Doctor sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeesh. That could have gone better."

I sniffed and rubbed harshly at my face to completely get rid of the tears. The Time Lord quickly turned around at my sound and gave me a small smile.

"You all right, Krystal?"

I sniffed again. "Yeah...yeah...I'm peachy..." He gave me a look that outright told me he did not believe me but thankfully didn't verbally say so. "You're positive there's absolutely nothing that can be done to help my people?" I whispered.

His small smile disappeared into a frown, and his eyes grew sad. "Yeah...positive. Your A.I. is right. Something much worse could happen by messing with a fixed point in time. Trust me when I say that it is for the best."

I sadly nodded. "Okay...guess I'll go and pack them so you can drop Krystan and I off elsewhere at least. Preferably in a different time period please where Colorians aren't a strange sight to behold."

The Doctor nodded back. "Now that is something that I can happily oblige for you."

I sniffed once more, rubbing at my face again before crossing my arms over my chest. "And sorry for blowing up in your face. It's not your fault that there are rules to be upheld to keep everything in order."

He nodded again. "It's alright."

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, needing to steady my breathing back to normal.

All those bloody years wasted. All that hope and positive thinking for naught. What's even the point in being positive when negative things still happen? More negative occurs than positive! I should have listened to Krystan from the beginning and not gotten my hopes up so high! Agh! I should've known there was nothing to be done. I have the worst luck in the world. Always have and always will. Everything wrong that could happen to a person always happens to me. Stupid, stupid, stupid! You're so stupid, Krystal!

I finally turned my back on the Doctor and towards my closet, ready to start packing. "I do wish for you though to take me to Chroma one last time before it's blown up. Let me make my peace before dropping us off wherever. Afterward, we'll figure it out from there."

"I can do that."

"Thank you."

I kneeled down at my closet with a quiet sigh and pulled out a suitcase. From over the years of living on Earth, I had slowly made a small collection of clothes. I wished it was bigger, I really loved dressing up for different occasions, but it was just easier to keep a smaller wardrobe for storage space. I never really had the extra cash to spend either since what little money I had needed to be put towards food and whatnot. I then started to collect the clothes scattered around the ship before ending up back at the closet and grabbing what little clothes remained that hadn't been tossed around.

"Okay then," the Doctor told me. He came over beside me and knelt down right next to me. "Do you want any help packing?"

I shook my head. "I'm good. Just give me a couple minutes."

I was partway through folding my remaining clothes to place in my suitcase when the Doctor's head suddenly snapped in my direction. "Did you say twenty years?"

I gave him a quick look. Huh?

The next second the Doctor's sonic screwdriver was out, and he had it aimed at me. It hummed as the tip glowed blue, indicating he was scanning me. In my head, Krystan, who had started to give me the silent treatment since he had gone back into the watch, suddenly gave a loud yell. I winced and closed my eyes for a moment before quickly checking my watch. On the screen was nothing but static.

'Krystan?' I called out to the A.I.

Angry or not, we were still very close to one another and cared for the other. If something had happened to Krystan, I would do everything in my power to get him fixed.

"You said earlier that it's been twenty years since you were last on Chroma," the Doctor elaborated, pulling me from my thoughts reluctantly. He finally stopped the scanning and held the screwdriver up, so it was lined up with his eyesight. I sighed in relief when the static disappeared, and the watch returned to normal. "You came here when you were twenty-four, right? So you should be about forty-four by now. But you look like you should still be in your early twenties. You've got no wrinkles, lines, or all around any imperfections that could blemish the skin and suggest an older age."

Krystan suddenly groaned in my head. 'Ow,' he muttered.

'Krystan! Are you okay?'

'Yes, Miss. It seems my system was reacting in a bad way to the sonic screwdriver that the Doctor possesses. It messed with my system and thus forced me to go offline for a moment there until the sonic was turned back off."

'Okay...I guess if you're sure then that everything is okay...'

"You two sure like to talk a lot, huh?"

I blinked. The Doctor chuckled as he lowered his hand with the sonic.

I scratched the back of my neck and leaned back on my feet. "Yeah, we do. It's easier sometimes than him coming out of the watch." I shook my head. "Anyway. The whole twenty years thing...I don't age. At least I don't think I am. I'm not sure if it happened after from the accident itself or its a result of my body being able to heal myself twenty-four seven."

"If you want, once we get in the TARDIS, I can do a complete scan to figure it out for you," he told me.

My eyes widened a tad in surprise. "You can do that?" He nodded, so I shrugged back. "Then sure. Why not. Just another question that needs to be answered anyway."

"All right then. As soon as you finish up packing here, we'll head straight to the TARDIS."

"What about Rose? Or the other two Humans?"

"I think Rose will understand."

"If you're sure I guess..." I murmured, returning back to my packing.

Once I was finally done, I stood up and stretched before closing the lid of the suitcase and then picking it up. I then made my way back to my cot and ripped off the blankets. I proceeded to place them in another bag that I had followed by my pillow. I glanced at my couch then, wishing I could take the rickety old thing with me, but I knew it wouldn't be possible. It was old anyway. One of the first things I had been able to salvage when coming to Earth. Found it outside of someone's house saying 'FREE', so I took it...after disinfecting it a billion times and making sure it wasn't full of bugs or something. The cot though I could care less about. It came with the ship and would just be another reminder of Chroma. Honestly, it would just continue to bring up memories from my time in the lab as these were the exact same cots that we were given to sleep on.

"Okay then." I turned to face the Time Lord and feigned a grin, hoping he didn't notice how upset I still was over the whole ordeal. "Let's go. Let's do this. I'm ready to finally leave Earth."

"You're sure?" he asked back. "You've got everything?" He eyed my suitcase and bag with a raised eyebrow. "All you have to take with you are clothes and blankets?"

I shrugged and hiked my bag over my shoulder. "When I first was stuck here I collected a few odds and ends...but once I learned of you and started to search for you, I slowly began to sell it all. I figured I wouldn't need so much stuff once I was able to locate you. Plus the money went towards food and other things I needed to survive." I moved back to the door and slammed my hand on the button next to it, causing the door to lift open. "After you, Time Lord."

The Doctor glanced around the ship once more before slipping out. I placed a hand on the wall and rubbed my thumb over the smooth surface for a few seconds before giving it a light pat and following him out. I clenched my eyes tight as I heard the door close behind me for the last time. 

"Don't worry about needing to move my ship," I told him. "In a couple of days, once the ship realizes that I haven't been inside of it, it'll wind up in space, and eventually just self destruct." I gave him a glance from the corner of my eye. "So, to your TARDIS?"

He nodded. "To the TARDIS."

"Let's go then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, sorry for being forever since I last had hoped to update. Just haven't been in a writing mood lately, especially between working and playing Breath of the Wild, etc. But hopefully next update should not take nearly as long though!
> 
> Anyway, hopefully this chapter isn't too wordy. I tried to break up a lot of Krystal's talking to make it more readable. I honestly dislike wordy conversations so much in stories, especially if written wrong since it's just a bunch of information that the reader has to absorb and try and remember for future chapters. Honestly, this chapter was supposed to be longer but after adding extra dialogue and whatnot, I decided it be best to cut it off where I did.
> 
> But, you've learned a little about Krystal's past! Whoo! Still haven't touched on her fear of being touched yet, but that will happen soon in the upcoming chapters.
> 
> Until next time though!


	7. Chapter #6: Chroma

Once back at the TARDIS the Doctor opened the door and allowed me to go in first, with him following in right after me and closing the door. I quickly grabbed my jacket from earlier and pulled it back on and then took a seat on the jumpseat, dropping my bags by my feet. I silently watched as the Doctor went straight to the controls. He fumbled with a few buttons before yanking out his sonic screwdriver and inserting it into the console. After a few seconds, there was a soft beep, and the monitor nearby gained a bunch of text on the screen. The Doctor gazed at it before he turned his brown eyes onto me.

"TARDIS says you're not aging one bit," he told me. He leaned back against the console and crossed his arms over his chest.

I sighed. "Of course," I muttered.

The Doctor's head tilted a small bit. "Are you okay?"

"What do you think?" I snapped. I pounded a fist against the jumpseat's leather. "Possibly last of my kind, unable to age, not even sure if I can die..." I locked eyes with the Time Lord and furrowed my eyebrows. "Can you answer me this? Is it possible for me to actually live forever? To the end of time? Because I don't think I can last that long! Watching as the people around me grow old and die...while I just didn't. Even Krystan can't last forever. One day I'll be alone! I can't do that, I can't!"

The Doctor's eyes widened, and he came towards me. "Hey, Krystal. Krystal? Breathe. Okay? Breathe. You need to breathe before you hyperventilate." His face was torn, but he kept his hands to himself as he knelt down before me. "Deep breaths in and out. Watch me." The Doctor took in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then released it slowly. "Come on. With me now."

The Doctor continued to take in deep breaths and then release them until I was finally able to do it with him and breathe normally once again. He eventually stopped and softly started to encourage me as I continued to breathe in and out on my own. After a couple minutes, I closed my eyes, took in my last breath, held it longer than the rest, and then released it super slowly before reopening my eyes and gazing down at the Doctor.

"Better?" he quietly asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Thank you."

"Do you still wish for me to answer your question?"

"Yes...but not now. I want to know, even if it hurts, but I think I'd rather wait to hear the answer later. When I'm mentally prepared, and the two of us are about to separate for good."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Positive."

"Okay then." The Doctor stood up and dusted his knees off. "I am going to go and get changed then." He pointed off somewhere behind him. "As much as I'd love to go through all of space and time in this dressing gown, it's probably safe to say that I may get more attention than desired."

I gave a small smile. "You think?"

He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Just a smidge. Plus I think that Jackie's boyfriend won't be too fond of me if I steal his stuff. Anyway," he pointed down at my seat, "just stay right there. Don't move and definitely don't touch anything. I mean it. Not a thing!" I rolled my eyes but put my hands up in the air with my palms facing him. He nodded. "Good. All right then. Give me a few, I guess." The Doctor then spun around and walked off out of sight.

I sighed once he was gone and closed my eyes. 'Krystan?'

'Hmm?' He sounded distracted.

'Do you really think this is a good idea?'

'Out of the options out there? Yes.' He then sighed himself. 'But, in the end, it is your decision in whatever we end up doing. I am but a watch on your wrist.'

'Krystan...' I swallowed, closing my eyes. 'I'm sorry for being so rude earlier.'

'It is okay.'

'No, it's-'

"Krystal?"

I jumped and opened my eyes. The Doctor was eyeing me as he peeked around the corner that he had just walked around. I flushed, embarrassed that he had once again pulled me from my conversation with Krystan and made me jump. I either had bad timing or he just always knew when the two of us were talking with one another.

"Yeah?"

He was smiling a little. "I broke you out of your conversation again, didn't I?"

I looked down at my hands which rested in my lap. "Perhaps."

"Sorry then, but I actually had a thought after I walked away."

"And that is?"

"Would you like to find a new outfit to change into? I'm assuming you've been in that outfit for a while now."

I blinked and pointed down at my bag. "Um, thank you for the offer, but I do have my own clothes if I wish to change."

He waved me off, and I blinked again in surprise. "Oh, come pick something out. Think of it as a thank you gift for helping out earlier with the Sycorax, and for figuring out the tea solution for me."

"Are you sure? I really don't want to take your clothing."

"No please. I insist. You'd be surprised how many clothes the TARDIS has collected over the years."

I sighed and jumped to my feet. "I guess then. If it makes you happy, then I will gladly accept your offer."

The Doctor smiled widely. "Oh, it won't just make me happy. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised as well.

"Umm, okay? I mean, I do enjoy clothing."

His grin grew even more, but he stayed quiet. I gave him a strange look but proceeded to follow the Time Lord as he just spun back around and disappeared out of sight again.

I had to jog a bit before I entirely caught up with him. The man had long legs and knew how to stretch them to walk fast when he wanted to. We walked together down a long hall for maybe a few minutes or so before we hit a spiral staircase which the Doctor then trotted down. I curiously glanced down the middle of it at what little I could see below.

How big was this ship? I mean, I get bigger on the inside and all, but how big?!? And how did a ship shaped like a box have another floor below the main level?

This ship made my head hurt.

"Well, do not think so hard then," Krystan teased.

I startled and looked over at Krystan who was standing a few steps below. He wasn't looking at me though and instead down below with his arms crossed. Even though his voice sounded otherwise, he still looked like he was upset with me.

"Hey, I'm-"

"Are you coming?" The Doctor's head popped into view from below. He then eyed Krystan. "Is everything alright? Did I interrupt something else?"

Neither one of us said a word. After a few seconds, Krystan glanced up at me before slowly walking down the steps. I followed him quickly before the watch forced him to go back into it.

At the bottom of the staircase was a room that was just filled to the brim with clothes. I gaped as I stared around at everything. Clothes of all shapes and sizes hung everywhere you looked with a couple of mirrors scattered throughout. How did the Doctor have so many clothes? Did he collect them? Did the TARDIS materialize them? What about the dresses and other female garments? Did he collect them to wear or where they for past female companions?

Was he a woman in a past regeneration?

The Doctor suddenly started laughing, and I broke out of my thoughts to stare at him. I gave him a confused look, but he just laughed even harder when I made eye contact with him.

"What?" I asked.

"You-you-!" he couldn't finish as he was still laughing at me.

Krystan finally decided to fully look at me. He was smiling real wide and biting his lip. "You squealed, Miss," he told me. He then started to snicker. "Very loudly might I add."

My face immediately heated up, and I felt my eyes shift colors in embarrassment. "No, I didn't!"

Krystan raised an eyebrow, his orange eyes sparkling. "You think I would make that up? I can not lie."

I opened my mouth to say something back but quickly shut it. He's right. He physically can't lie to me. It's part of his programming. He can mislead me and skirt around things, but not lie. Instead, I crossed my arms and huffed, looking away.

"Shut up," I muttered at them.

Krystan shook his head and walked off to explore the clothes. The Doctor's laughter turned into soft chuckles before he finally stopped. He walked forward and pulled at the red scarf around his neck. He went over to a line of clothes and started to browse through them. I slowly came up beside him and watched him.

"It was a first," the Doctor grinned. "No one's ever squealed from being down here before."

The Time Lord yanked out a brightly colored polka dotted button up shirt and held it in front of his body. He raised his eyebrows down at me, asking on my thoughts. I grimaced and quickly snatched it from his hands and placed it back on the rack.

"You trying to look like a clown or something?" I muttered at him, ignoring his previous statement.

"That bad, huh?"

"That's the kind of shirt that should never be in one's closet, Doctor. So unless you plan on performing at kids' birthday parties...yes. It's pretty terrible."

The Doctor shrugged and went back to looking through the clothes. He next yanked out a pair of black leather pants. He only had the chance to inspect them for a second before I ripped those from his hands as well and tossed them behind me. He gave me a look of surprise in which I just shook my head in return.

I mean, not that the leather pants would look bad on him...but they aren't really something you'd expect a savior of space and time to wear. Plus I'm confident it will make it twice as hard to run away from his enemies.

"Aren't you supposed to be looking for something to wear?" he asked as he started to rifle through the rack of clothes.

"Right now I'm more concerned on what YOU plan to wear," I told him honestly. "You're the Doctor. The last of the Time Lords. You can't go around looking like an idiot. You need to be at least DECENTLY dressed when you're out there saving planets."

"Gee thanks," he muttered.

"How did you get along before meeting me?" I chuckled under my breath. I shook my head lightly before spotting something from the corner of my eye. I snagged the brown tie and held it up to him. He carefully took it and examined it before looking down at me. I pointed at the tie. "While I go and find something to wear, how about you find something that matches this. I think it could look really good on you if you can find the right outfit to go along with it." He raised an eyebrow at the tie and then over at me. I shrugged. "You just seem like a tie person to me."

He shrugged himself but placed the tie loosely around his neck. "If it'll mean you'll stop judging my collection of clothes then I'll try and look around."

"Good boy," I smirked. I then began my search for some bright, colorful clothes for myself.

Eventually, after looking around for a while, I ended up with different articles of clothing that I wanted to try together and see if they worked. I then got directions from the Time Lord on where the changing room was and took my clothes into the small mirrored room. Immediately I stripped down and pulled on the new outfit. When I had dressed again, I glanced over myself to see how well I did.

I didn't want to take anything too extravagant as I didn't feel it was right since it was just a gift, so I ended up grabbing a short sleeve white button up shirt, a sky blue jacket with a hood, and some skinny jeans which were the exact same color as the jacket. I had also seen a black fedora which I immediately snagged when I saw it. I always wore fedoras whenever I had the chance, so it was nice to have another one to add to the collection.

Fedoras were cool after all.

I rapped my knuckles against the wood of the door and hollered out, "Doctor? Are you decent? Can I come on out?"

I never thought I'd be the one asking that when I was the one in the changing room, but he had still been looking when I had entered the room, and with the way my luck was, he could currently be in the middle of changing.

Yeah...that could be a mental image I may not be able to get out of my head if seen.

My cheeks instantly flushed at the thought, and I shook my head. Not the time, Krystal.

"Yes, I am! You can come on out, Krystal," he called back.

Oh, thank goodness.

I yanked on my gloves from earlier, quickly balled up my previous outfit, and carefully opened up the door without dropping anything. I made my way over to the Time Lord who was currently using a mirror in the corner of the room near him to study his apparel. He started to rub at his jaw when I came up behind him.

I stared at the Doctor using the mirror in surprise. He had actually found something that, not only matched and went well together, but also went very well with the tie I had given him. He had exchanged his pajamas for a nice fitting brown striped suit that went very well with the tie based on color and, peeking out from under the suit, a white button-up shirt. On top, he had put on a light brown trench coat that seemed to make his skinny frame appear much bigger than it actually was, while for shoes...I frowned a bit. Were those white converses? He had on a nice fitting suit, and he was wearing converses for shoes? Really? I sighed.

My eyes traveled back up to his face just in time to see him bend over and open his mouth wide. I raised an eyebrow as he then snapped it back shut.

"Uh...what are you doing? Something wrong with your mouth?" I asked him.

"Just regenerated, remember? This is the first time I've seen myself."

Oh yeah. Must be weird saving an entire planet and having no idea what your body looks like. Actually, it's just odd in general having a brand new body.

The Doctor frowned a little and lightly picked at his hair, twirling it between his fingers. "I can't believe I'm not ginger," he murmured. He then gave a sigh before straightening back up. He quickly fixed his jacket before turning to face me with a smile. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"How do I look?" He gestured to his entire body before stuffing his hands into his coat pockets. "I'd say I matched the tie that you gave me pretty well, huh?"

I rolled my eyes at his smug look. "Better than what you would've looked like with that first shirt you picked out."

"I'm going to take that as a good job and that I look quite dashing in this outfit."

"Sure, Doctor. Whatever floats your boat."

"Well, now that we've got our clothes settled, I guess it's time to take you to Chroma," the Time Lord said, his smile slowly turning into a frown.

Krystan appeared beside me as my face matched the Time Lord's. "Yeah. Guess so. Sooner we get this over with the better, huh?" I noticed Krystan gazing at me, but I ignored him. I hugged my clothes tighter to my chest.

The Doctor nodded. "All right. Let's head back to the console then."

"Kay..."

Krystan disappeared back into the E.T.L. as the Doctor, and I made our way back up the staircase and to the console. As he went over to mess with the controls, I moved to my bags and added my pile of dirty clothes to the rest of my clothes. Probably not the best idea, adding dirty clothes to the clean, but I wasn't really in the mood to care. I could just wash it all later if needed.

"Are you sure you still wish to do this?" the Doctor asked me. "I can just take you straight to another planet instead."

I snapped my head away from my bags and over to him. I didn't say a word, instead just choosing to nod a yes. I was too afraid of my voice stuttering if I had spoken instead. I had to be brave right now. For my people and for myself.

"Then hold on tight."

Without much more warning I was flung backward as the TARDIS started up and began the journey to Chroma. I stared up at the top of the ship before closing my eyes and trying to relax.

I needed to prepare myself to say my farewells to my people and planet. I had to be strong. No more crying. I was possibly the last of my kind and had to show how amazing being a Colorian was. I may've been trapped in the wrong time for twenty years, but I can't allow that to stop me from moving on and living a life of some sort, even if I can't tell people what was going to happen one day to Colorians.

I can do this. I can do this. I can DO this...

My eyes slowly opened and tears formed and slid down my face. The Doctor, who was calling out to me something about how the TARDIS operated, was oblivious as he just continued to talk. Or perhaps he just couldn't see me from his position. Who knows. The only thing I did know was that...

I CAN'T DO THIS!!!

I pounded a fist against my leg and bit my lip to keep quiet and to not attract the attention of the Time Lord. Who the bloody hell was I kidding myself? I wasn't strong. I was weak! I just pretended to be strong so people wouldn't know. Colorians were a fantastic race, but I was the one who the Goddess chose to live on when the rest of the planet died? Like I was some amazing person who was better than the rest and deserved to live compared to all other Colorians?

Ha!

Why was I even the chosen one anyway? Why was I the one who was to continue on when all the other Colorians were dead...or not even created yet...or...or...ugh! Something else I don't know! I'm weak and stupid! So stinking stupid. Just another reason why I was the wrong choice to save our people!

I curled up into a ball and forced my hands over my eyes as I started to silently sob.

My first ever trip in the TARDIS, and I was a wreck. Way to ruin the fun, Krystal. Just add it to the pile of things you aren't good at. It's already pretty long. What's one more thing, huh?

Goddess, I'm just useless! So, so bloody useless!

I can't even keep my species alive like I was supposed to go out and do! Why did that idiot have to push ME into the cart? Why couldn't it have been someone else? I bet any of the others would have been a better match than me! Or why couldn't the experiments that were to replicate what happened to me at least WORK on the others? What? My body was the only one worthy of becoming "immortal"? Fat chance! It was nothing but a stupid accident.

That's actually an excellent way to describe me. An accident. Nobody in their right mind would have even imagined that the Goddess wanted me to be the one to go out and help save the other Colorians. Hell, SHE probably wasn't in her right mind when she chose me. She probably had someone else in mind instead, but I was stupid and somehow got in the way of her plans. Or worse, she was just punishing me. I mean, I already lost my entire family. Makes sense to me!

I sobbed harder into my hands and curled even tighter into a ball.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Krystal, you are so stupid!

I didn't deserve to be taken to see my planet one last time. I failed them. Why would they even want me to come back? It feels like I'm gloating to all of them! I survived, and you didn't!

I don't deserve to be dropped off elsewhere either, to a place where I could go and be the Colorian I was. I was better off staying on regular Earth where I was forced to blend in with the Humans. I could wear contacts the rest of my pathetic life and take my choker off...because only true Colorians had changing eyes and wore a choker with our sacred mood gem in it.

Goddess...maybe I was just better off being d-.

"And we're here!" The Doctor called. "You doing good over there, Krystal?"

My eyes widened, and I hurriedly wiped at my face and sat up. "Hmm? Yeah, yeah...I'm peachy!" Ugh. Please don't notice that voice crack.

I tugged my jacket tighter around my body and yanked my hood over my head before standing to my feet. I quickly headed towards the door of the TARDIS before he noticed my grey irises or red, puffy eyes from crying. Once I reached the door, I paused with my hand outreached. I glanced backward but kept my eyes locked on the ground.

"Um, is it safe for you to be out there, Doctor? With the Spread of the Hopeless and all?"

I really dislike that name.

He didn't speak for a few seconds, so I glanced up at him and found the Doctor carefully studying me. When he saw I was looking at him, he stuffed his hands into his coat pockets. I shuffled my feet awkwardly and looked away again.

"Oh, don't worry. The Hopeless lasted until the very last living being on the planet perished. With no more living beings for it to affect, it slowly disappeared until it was completely wiped out. Hasn't been back since," he told me softly.

"So that's it?" I whispered, my hand clenching into a fist. "There really wasn't a cure for the disease except for every single person on the planet to remain on Chroma and die." I pressed a hand and my head against the door. "Better accept death because there's nothing left for you once you've become infected...unless you're me of course." A soft chuckle escaped my lips. "I am the one impossible thing that was able to survive, after all."

I could feel the tears start to form in my eyes once more. I swallowed the giant lump in my throat before I began to sob again. He didn't need to see me this way.

"Krystal?" A hand came down upon my shoulder, and I held my breath. I looked over my shoulder, wide-eyed at the Time Lord who had a look of concern on his face. My body started to shake. He glanced at his hand but kept it where it was. "Enough." His hand slowly started to tighten as he stared me down.

"W-what?"

His other hand came up, and I flinched as he tore my hood back so he could see my eyes clearly. "I said, enough," he repeated. "Stop thinking so negatively, okay? Especially about yourself. There's obviously something you aren't telling me, but I won't press you into saying whatever it is. Just relax, all right?" I swallowed and quickly nodded, hoping he would hurry up and release me already. The Doctor raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Nuh uh. Use your words."

"Okay, okay," I whispered. "I'll try."

How could he know when I'm thinking stuff like that?

The Doctor gave a small grin and finally released my shoulder. Oh, thank the Goddess! "There we go. And, uh, sorry about having to grab your shoulder like that. It just seemed like the best way to get you to actually pay attention and listen to me."

I threw my hood back over my face and ignored him. Yeah. Some reason. I explicitly told him that I don't care for people to touch me in any sort of way and he still grabs my shoulder! You're telling me that the smartypants Time Lord couldn't figure out a different solution to getting a response out of me? As if. And why did he go and yank my hood off my head? He was so close to accidentally brushing his fingers against my head! Idiot.

I sighed. No. I was the idiot for even letting him catch me off guard to begin with. I'm just upset still. I shouldn't be thinking so horribly of the Doctor. He might've touched me three times now, but I just allowed it every time. Well, except for that one time I yelled at him. But that was only because I was angry with Krystan and thus freaked out on him. Otherwise, I probably would've let him touch me and not said a word, and he would never have even known to begin with that I can't stand being touched.

Can't forget either when John touched my face earlier. I shuddered.

I finally shook my head. "Let's just go check the place out," I muttered. I grabbed one of the door handles and yanked it open before stepping out into the depressing atmosphere of Chroma.

I stuffed my hands into my pockets as I looked around. It appeared we had landed right outside of the Silver Forest, promptly named for the silver leaves that grew upon all of the trees and the silver grass. We were just a short walking distance from the central city. Fifteen minutes tops.

I took in a deep breath as a small smile came onto my face. No matter what happened and how I felt, it was nice to be home after so many years of being stuck on Earth. I slowly went over to the closest tree and pulled off a glove before lightly grabbing at one of the silver leaves. I rubbed at the leaf with my thumb as I remembered the last time I had been in this very forest. I gently then brought up the leaf to my face and took in a small whiff.

Man, I missed being home.

A tissue suddenly appeared in front of my face, and I froze in alarm, my heart beating double time. Slowly my eyes moved to the direction that the tissue had come from and found the Time Lord. My eyebrows furrowed at him in confusion as I lowered the leaf from my face.

"You were crying," he said softly. He shook his hand with the tissue, and I looked back at the white material. "Thought you might like this."

I brought up my bare hand and felt my face. Yep. Once again I was crying. Goddess, why can't I just hold it together? I snatched the tissue from the Doctor with my gloved hand and dabbed at my face while placing my other glove into my pocket.

"Thanks," I told him.

The Doctor nodded and turned to the leaf that I had been looking at. He reached up and touched a different leaf. "I always enjoyed the Silver Forest," he told me. "It's one of the most beautiful forests around. Plus," he yanked the leaf he was touching off the tree and grinned as it changed from its silver color to a rich red one, "I like watching the leaves change."

I'm not sure if he actually meant it when he said it was the most beautiful around, there had to be better ones in the entire universe, but it's kind of him to say it though.

"It truly is a mystery as to why the leaves change the way they do when yanked off the trees...but did you know that there's a trick to get a silver leaf to stay silver when off the tree?"

The Time Lord's eyebrows shot up, and he shook his head. I chuckled and started to twist the leaf that I had been touching, so its stem became twisted several times over. I continued to rotate the stem until there was a very light popping sound and the leaf came off the branch, still in all its silvery glory. I grinned at the Doctor and held it up for him to see.

"My brothers taught me that trick. They figured it out when they were little kids and were messing around out here. They made me swear to keep it a secret before showing me. They didn't want anyone else to know how they were able to get the leaves off the tree AND stay silver."

The Doctor lightly plucked the leaf from my hand and compared it to the one he held in his own. "Brothers?"

I gave a soft smile. "Yeah. Twins to be precise. Their names were Blake and Blaze. My two protectors, they were. Ended up taking care of me when our parents passed away..." More tears started to well up in my eyes, and I brought up the tissue I still had to clean my face. "Ugh! I'm sorry. Today's just been a bad day. I haven't cried like this in a long time." Once I finished with my face, I stuffed the tissue into my pocket, determined not to have to use it again. At this rate, the Doctor was just going to see me as a big old Colorian crybaby. "Do you wanna go into the City? I can take you to my house if you want..." I trailed off when I noticed that the Doctor was staring with an intense, thoughtful look down at the silver and red leaves in his hand. Without a word, he dashed back into the TARDIS. I cocked my head at his retreating form. "Doctor?" I pathetically asked.

Uh...what?

A few minutes passed before the Time Lord returned with a small book in his hand. He grinned at me as he handed it over wordlessly. I stared down at the TARDIS blue cover and then back up at him. Without still saying anything, he reached out a hand and lifted the cover open so I could see the first page. My eyes widened as I stared down at the two leaves that he had carefully placed in the book to preserve.

"Thought you might want to preserve some of your life before we head off to drop you off," he said softly, closing the book. He then whipped out a camera from his jacket pocket. It resembled an older model, one that could print out the photo right on the spot, but it was much smaller and had a shiny metal look to it. He dangled it by the wrist strap before me off a finger and gave a wide smile and wink. "We should never forget where we come from after all. It's what makes you...you."

My eyes widened. Slowly I reached out a hand and carefully took the camera from him while at the same time handing him the book to hold. I held the camera up to my eye and looked around with it to figure out the perfect first photo that I wanted to remember for the rest of my life.

The two red suns overhead? No. The forest? There definitely was a lot of good memories here, but it still didn't feel right. Not without the life that made up the woods at least, and since they were all dead, it definitely didn't feel right.

Eventually, I landed on the TARDIS. I pulled the camera from my eye and stared at it and then at the still smiling face of the Time Lord. The man and his box that was kind enough to even bring me back here to begin with. Also, though I freaked out on him for not being able to help my people and me, he was still willing to at least give me a chance of having a semi-normal life, one where I can at least be a Colorian (even if I'm still not sure if I deserve it). He could've left me on Earth and not looked back.

I don't deserve to be here. I don't deserve this kindness. And I absolutely did not deserve to have found this man. Fate could have laughed and forced me to live forever, unable to locate the Doctor, and wondering for the rest of my life if I could've saved my people.

That's it.

I brought the camera back to my eye and took a few steps back while trying to figure out how to use the camera. Once I hit the perfect spot that had the Doctor, TARDIS, and an excellent view of the Silver Forest AND the two Colorian suns in the background, I grinned and pressed the button that would take the picture. Instantly the photo was created and slid out of the camera. I carefully grabbed it and shook the photo around to air it out before looking at it.

"Didn't expect for you to go and take a picture of me," the Doctor told me as he came up to look at the photo as well.

"It just seemed...right," I told him. I opened the book he still held to the second page and gently placed the picture inside for safekeeping. "And...I kind of want one more if you don't mind."

"Well, I suppose," the Doctor said as he rubbed at his chin. He then gave a wink. "Just make sure to get my good side, Krystal, all right?"

Krystan laughed in my head as my face instantly flushed. "Y-yeah. Sure, Doctor."

I quickly took in a deep breath to get my face back to normal before moving to stand directly next to the Doctor. I then held up the camera to hopefully get a good photo of the two of us but the Time Lord snatched it from my grip and held it instead. I flinched at first at how close our hands had been but then relaxed as I realized it made more sense for him to take the photo since he was the taller one.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Positive?"

I nodded and grinned at the camera. "Yeah. I'm ready. Go ahead."

"All right. Say something!"

My eyebrows furrowed and I looked up at his laughing face in confusion, a burning feeling coming from my eyes "Something?"

CLICK!

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Of course, he would do that. A typical guy I guess.

I yanked the photo from the camera and shook it around. When I finally looked at it, I sighed again and covered my face. I knew my eyes had changed colors, but did they have to switch to yellow? One of the brightest colors that my eyes could turn to.

Yellow for my confusion of course. From the Doctor messing with me.

The funny thing is, sometimes I forget how I look to others with my eyes a different color, especially a color as vibrant as yellow. In the picture, I almost looked like a cat, minus the slitted pupils. Ugh. Least it was yellow and not red. Then I would've looked like some sort of demon monster. I can only imagine how worse the photo could've turned out if it had been dark outside instead. It's quite a sight seeing a Colorian at a distance in the dark with colored eyes. And of course, our mood gem didn't help much either since they glowed just as bright.

Whatever. At least the Doctor in the photo was having the time of his life.

I shook my head and tucked it into the third page of the book. I then took the book from him and placed it into my jacket pocket. Oddly enough the entire book fit in the pocket. My eyes widened for a split second. Did the clothes from the TARDIS have bigger on the inside pockets? I stared down at the pocket for a moment before looking back up at the Time Lord. He winked.

I laughed. "Thank you," I told him whilst taking the camera from him and placing that in my other pocket. "Really. You didn't have to do any of this for me." Before he could respond back, I quickly held up a hand for him to not speak. If we kept talking about all of this stuff he was doing for me, and he said it was no problem, he was happy to help, etc., etc., I might start crying. Again. I've cried way too much today for my liking, especially in front of him. "So, to the city? I can show you where I used to live if you want or maybe the library or something...if all those buildings are even still around that is..."

"Actually, if you don't mind, I would really like to see the hospital where all these experiments took place," the Doctor said, his smile dropping as he gained a serious expression. I froze in fear, my breathing hitching. The Doctor instantly seemed to notice my alarmed expression. "If you're uncomfortable you don't need to go if you don't want to. I just wanna take a quick peek around. I can go in by myself if need be."

"N-no problem," I told him. My hands started to shake at the thought.

"I'm serious. You don't have to go in if it's going to give you a panic attack of some sort."

"I-I'll be f-f-fine," I said. "Really. Just pe-peachy, I'll be. Promise. Besides, who's gonna s-show you around the hos...the hos...the building?"

His eyes narrowed at me, searching my face for something before he sighed, a tired look coming on to his face. "All right, but please tell me if you change your mind at all. I mean it! At all! Even if a tiny sliver of doubt crosses your mind, tell me. Okay?"

I nodded. "Y-yeah. Got it."

And with that, he nodded back before gesturing for me to lead the way to the City. I gave a small, awkward smile before ambling ahead of him. After a few seconds, I heard him coming up right behind me and then soon he was walking right beside me.

Okay, Krystal. Just breathe. You're fine. It's only a hospital now. No more experiments. No more needles, or surgical knives, or being placed under a hot, bright light as you question who in their right mind would go and volunteer to be a guinea pig instead of just living out the rest of their tiny life in the comfort of their own home...

Oh yeah. You. You were the one that was out of their right mind. Heh.

Ugh. I need to stop this. I'm supposed to be thankful for being brought back here to say my goodbyes. But instead, I'm freaking out about every little thing.

I think I'm going crazy.

Here I was worrying earlier about the Doctor's scary mood-swings, but maybe instead he should be the one worried about my own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go. Another chapter finally uploaded and we are finally on Chroma. Figured uploading so soon again after my several month hiatus helps make up for going on one to begin.
> 
> I'll tell you what though. It is hard trying to write Krystal's thought process. All that negativity that goes on through her head is difficult for somebody who has never really gone through that. But I think that's part of the reason why I wanted to make her like that. Since I never have written a character like her before, I wanted to try. It might not always sound the best or may be a bit too much at times, but that's what happens when writing a character that is completely different in personality from one's self. Plus it honestly makes sense for her to be a little depressed after everything that's happened to her, and maybe a little more life-like since she has problems like real people do. 
> 
> Anyway! New eye color in this chapter. So, here ya go. 
> 
> (Seriously putting all the eye colors down here may seem redunant, but it makes it really easy so I'm not always repeating what each color represents in the story or having to say what color her eyes changed to when Krystal is feeling whatever emotion at the time.)
> 
> Yellow - Confused, Distress, Desperation, Shock
> 
> And already mentioned eye colors:
> 
> Brown - Fear, Startled, Worry, Anxiety, Distrust, Insecurity, Doubt, Nervousness
> 
> Orange - Embarrassment or Shame
> 
> Red - Anger, Indignation, Resentment, Annoyance, Dissatisfaction, Frustration
> 
> Electric Blue - Ecstasy

**Author's Note:**

> Also, just wanted to put real quick again that this story is on this site, fanfiction.net, and wattpad under the same username. I like to post on the different sites I'm on mainly for feedback.


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